[tomder55]

To avoid the necroposting accusation I am opening a new post

Section 230 ;once part of the 'Communications Decency Act',states "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." (47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1)).
The law prevents law suits against users or services that are based on what others say. Given the volume of internet use it would be impossible for providers to police it all.

Of course that hasn't prevented providers from acting as censors .(see my comments on the nexus of government and on line providers that has been branded the 'Censorship Industrial Complex'.....specifically the "Twitter Files" .)

Recently Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis joined together in a Twitter event announcing DeSantis' Presidential candidacy . Despite the rocky error plagued nature of the event ,it did a significant break from the ususal format of using more traditional media .

Tucker Carlson was booted from Fox . He said he has plans to resume his shows on Twitter. . The Daily Wire has also announced that they will release all their podcasts on Twitter as well.

Part of Carlson's issues came from the Dominion lawsuit settlement against Fox. Fox being a more tradtional news outlet was restricted by FCC broadcasting regulations .Twitter enjoys Sec230 protections.

As the lines are blurred between the net and traditional media ;and as both sides of the divide become critical (the right for the being censored by servers and the left for servers not censoring conservatives enough); there will be increased pressure on Congress to amend Sec. 230 .

[Curlyben]

I was just jesting with you...

[tomder55]

SCOTUS recently dismissed a case that had Sec 230 as the issue of the dispute (Gonzales v Google) The family of a terror attack victim contended that social media firms should be liable for making radicalizing ideas available to people . Clarence Thomas wrote that the complaint failed to show how Google (and in a related case Twitter ) aided and abetted the attack. He compared it to other means of communication like the phone. If a terrorist uses a phone to plan an attack ;the phone company is not aiding and abetting the attack.

They punted the issue of Sec 230 back to Congress to solve. The problem is that time after time when Congress calls on techies to testify to Congress ;lawmakers from both parties demonstrate a complete lack of understanding about the issues about Sec 230.
What both sides agree on (for different reasons ) is that the 'wild west' of the internet days are numbered .

[jlisenbe]

;lawmakers from both parties demonstrate a complete lack of understanding about the issues

It's a problem on many fronts.