Court Gets An Easy One Right: Section 230 Says Omegle Isn't To Blame For Bad People On Omegle

Back in 2020, we had a post explaining that Section 230 isn't why Omegle has awful content, and getting rid of Section 230 wouldn't change that. Omegle, if you don't know, is a service that matches people, randomly, into video chats...

Greene, Paul Social Media Developments Resurface Section 230 Debate

Five days into the new year and two developments bring Section 230 protections back into focus.

Opinion | To Curb Facebook's Political Power, Take Away Its Section 230 Protection

The best way to limit the power of a Mark Zuckerberg to shape our political debates and influence elections is to downsize Facebook. Restructuring the protection provided by Section 230 can be a way to accomplish this goal.

Those Who Don't Understand Section 230 Are Doomed To Repeal It

It remains somewhat surprising to me how many people who have ideas for Section 230 reforms clearly do not understand the law and how it works. Perhaps much more surprising is that, when experts try to highlight where their analysis has gone wrong...

How Attacks On Section 230 Could Put Addiction Recovery Efforts At Risk

We keep trying to highlight the pitfalls and dangers of attacking the problems seen on social media as if Section 230 is the cause of them, rather than the mirror highlighting societal problems that other policies have failed to fix or have...

DOJ Tells Courts They Don't Need To Explore The Constitutionality Of Section 230 To Toss Donald Trump's Dumb Lawsuits Out

Last month, we noted that the DOJ had announced it was going to intervene in Donald Trump's bombastically silly lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for suspending his account for violating the websites' terms of service. Those...

Federal Court Dismisses Another Negligence Suit Against Online Gun Marketplace Armslist But Says Section 230 Doesn't Protect It

Two years ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed down a pretty important decision, only somewhat tempered by its limited jurisdiction. It decided Section 230 immunity applied to the buying and selling of guns via a third-party platform...

Experts Warn Against Total Repeal of Section 230

Panelists note shifting definition of offensive content.

Biden Administration Intervenes In Donald Trump's Silly Lawsuit Against Twitter To Defend Section 230

As you'll recall, a few months ago, former President Donald Trump sued Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube claiming that his own government violated the 1st Amendment... because those three private companies kicked him off their services for violating...

Everything You Know About Section 230 Is Wrong (But Why?)

There are a few useful phrases that allow one instantly to classify a statement. For example, if any piece of popular health advice contains the word "toxins," you can probably disregard it. Other than, "avoid ingesting them.&quot...

NY Times Continues Its Inability To Report Accurately On Section 230 And Content Moderation

Daisuke Wakabayashi is a NY Times business reporter who seems to have a weird blind spot regarding Section 230 and online content moderation. Actually, perhaps "blind spot" isn't the right term for it. Two years ago, he was responsible...

House Democrats Decide To Hand Facebook The Internet By Unconstitutionally Taking Section 230 Away From Algorithms

We've been pointing out for a while now that mucking with Section 230 as an attempt to "deal" with how much you hate Facebook is a massive mistake. It's also exactly what Facebook wants, because as it stands right now, Facebook is...

Facebook's Nick Clegg Makes It Clear: If You're Looking To Undermine Section 230, That's EXACTLY What Facebook Wants

Facebook policy dude/failed UK politician Nick Clegg has written an op-ed for USA Today confirming what has been obvious to everyone who understands Section 230, but (for reasons I don't quite understand) seems obscured from basically every...

Why Section 230 'Reform' Effectively Means Section 230 Repeal

Some lawmakers are candid about their desire to repeal Section 230 entirely. Others, however, express more of an interest to try to split this baby, and "reform" it in some way to somehow magically fix all the problems with the Internet...

Glyn Moody (@glynmoody@mastodon.social)

If You Want To Know Why Section 230 Matters, Just Ask Wikimedia: Without It, There'd Be No #Wikipedia -...

If You Want To Know Why Section 230 Matters, Just Ask Wikimedia: Without It, There'd Be No Wikipedia

It sometimes seems that Techdirt spends half its time debunking bad ideas for reforming or even repealing Section 230. In fact, so many people seem to get the law wrong that Mike was moved to write a detailed post on the subject with the...

If Your Takeaway From Facebook's Whistleblower Is That Section 230 Needs Reform, You Just Got Played By Facebook

Here we go again. Yesterday, the Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee. Frankly, she came across as pretty credible and thoughtful, even if I completely disagree with some of her suggestions. I...

Bring on the Publicity Trolls: Federal Appeal Court Ruling Drastically Undermines Online Speech

In a disastrous ruling for online expression, innovation and competition, a federal appeals court has held that internet intermediaries are on the hook for expensive litigation and potential damages for violating a person’s “right of publicity,”...

Judge Rules Exemption Exists in Section 230 for Twitter FOSTA Case

Latest lawsuit illustrates the increasing fragility of Section 230 legal protections.