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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

War on Section 230 begins in earnest as Dem senators look to limit legal immunity for social networks, websites etc:

US Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Friday introduced draft legislation to limit the legal protections available to social networks, websites, and anything else that provides an "interactive computer service."

The three politicians proposed a bill they're calling the SAFE TECH Act [PDF], which narrows the liability protection afforded to organizations by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act.

[...] Section 230 of the CDA is the legal foundation of the modern internet because it provides a way for orgs to host user-generated content while, more or less, avoiding legal liability for that content. And it allows companies to maintain that qualified immunity even when they moderate user-generated content.

[...] "A platform that hosts organizing efforts for armed militia groups making direct calls for violence faces no legal consequences for its actions, even when reported by users hundreds of times in advance of the tragic events," laments Warner, pointing at the lack of consequences for online services that were used to organize the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The bill proposes to clarify where Section 230 immunity does not apply. It seeks to remove platform protection for:

• Ads and other paid content, so platforms can't profit from unlawful or harmful services.
• Civil rights law and antitrust law violation claims.
• Harassment/cyberstalking claims related to protected classes (e.g. sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, etc).
• Wrongful death claims.
• Alien Tort Claims Act claims (e.g. allowing survivors of the Rohingya genocide to sue Facebook).

Also at Reuters which adds:

There are several other pieces of legislation aimed at changing the law doing the rounds, including one from Republican Senators Roger Wicker and Lindsey Graham. There is another one from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and a bipartisan bill from Democrat Brian Schatz and Republican John Thune.

What do other countries do?

Original Submission