If Big Tech Loses Its Legal Shield, Hollywood Should Worry

Eriq Gardner from hollywoodreporter A growing chorus of politicians is looking to rein in Twitter and Facebook over misinformation or censorship claims — but regulation has the potential to impact traditional media, too.
Over the past quarter-century, for better or worse, one law has played an outsized role in the vibrant internet we know today. Yet amid the fallout of the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, calls to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act have grown louder. Some lawmakers complain about the spew of hatred and legion of disinformation. Others detest the power of Big Tech to choose whose voice is loudest on platforms seen as akin to town squares.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle hold up a repeal of Section 230 as the appropriate response to everything from the Capitol insurrection to the suspension of Donald Trump’s Twitter account two days later. Unfortunately, a Section 230 repeal won’t be enough to achieve what some political leaders are really after — a rebalance of the power structure. And that holds danger for those who traffic in speech, including movie and television producers, plus journalists and TV newscasts. “Section 230 reform is a sign that the forces of censorship are winning the legislative battles,” says Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. “Hollywood should be very, very nervous that they will be the censors’ next target.”

Section 230 is a key 1996 law that allows interactive service providers — like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube — to host third-party content like tweets or videos without fear of bearing liability (with some exceptions) for what users are posting. It also permits these digital services to step in when they see objectionable content and restrict access to such material. As Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who co-authored the statute, explains, Section 230 is both “a sword and a shield,” the former so that tech companies can take down “lies and slime,” the latter so that “users, not the website that hosts their content, are the ones responsible for what they post.”

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