Cheat sheet: Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs signal support for content moderation rules in Section 230 reform

By Kate Kaye

Lawmakers told the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter yesterday that they are ready to legislate to stop the spread of disinformation and extremism on their platforms. All three platform chiefs told legislators they supported limited requirements for making their policies for patrolling content more transparent.

Many signs emerged during the hearing that reaffirmed support for updating Section 230, the part of the Communications Decency Act that affords online businesses legal immunity for content posted to their sites. The sponsor of a bill expected to be introduced soon said the proposed language would stop “surveillance advertising” that enables disinformation.

“Your business model itself has become the problem, and the time for self-regulation is over,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, during the joint House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on disinformation.

These were the key takeaways from the hearing:

More legislation is coming to update Section 230 to address problems exacerbated by the spread of disinformation and the financial incentives underpinning its dissemination.
Facebook wants Section 230 changes that reflect its own current practices and existing proposed legislation.
All three execs indicated support for new rules that would require transparency around content moderation policies.
While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blamed the tech execs for the harms exacerbated by their platforms, they viewed the issues through standard partisan lenses. In general, Democrats highlighted issues such as extremism and COVID-19 vaccine disinformation. Republicans lamented censorship bias, child exploitation, sex trafficking and the promotion of addictive opioids.
All three platform CEOs were subject to their fair share of scolding, but Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) created a particularly damning spectacle when he admonished Dorsey for Twitter’s failure to conduct a promised audit on civil rights.

Banning “surveillance” ads that fuel disinformation

“Your business models of targeted ads enable disinformation to thrive because you chase user engagement at great costs to our society,” said California Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo, who said she is preparing legislation along with Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat and chair of the Consumer Protection subcommittee. “It’s why Rep. Schakowsky and I are doing a bill that is going to ban this business model of surveillance advertising.” She didn’t provide any more detail on the bill.

Schakowsky said separately during the hearing she plans to propose a bill that would update Section 230 to ensure companies cannot escape liability when they violate consumer protection laws. It is unclear whether Schakowsky and Eshoo were referring to the same future bill or different bills.

Eshoo, along with New Jersey Democrat Rep. Tom Malinowski, on March 24 re-introduced the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act, another Section 230 reform bill that would hold large social media platforms with 50 million or more users liable for using algorithmic systems that amplify “radicalizing” content that leads to offline harms.

Facebook wants Section 230 reforms requiring transparency

For Facebook — which ran a full-page ad in The New York Times on the day before the hearing touting its support for Section …read more

Source:: Digiday