Justice Department will reportedly propose limits to online platforms' legal protections

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is speculative, which keeps it from LBN.

Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

DOJ Will Seek To Roll Back Protections For Social Media
June 17, 2020

CNET reports:

The Justice Department will propose rolling back the legal protections online platforms have had since the ’90s, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, to make sites more vigilant about policing content. It follows President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting social media companies.

The proposal could be announced on Wednesday, reported the Journal, citing a Trump administration official. The president’s order, which came in late May, called for a government review into Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects online companies from liability for content posted by users.

The DOJ proposal would erode legal protections afforded to social media companies under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which was passed in 1996, according to the Journal. Section 230 is considered the most important law protecting free speech online.

The original WSJ report is behind their paywall. All of this is the result, of course, of Trump’s furor at having one of his tweets tagged with a link to the “facts” about voting by mail and having another of his tweets hidden for “glorifying violence.”

Justice Department will reportedly propose limits to online platforms' legal protections
This comes in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order targeting social media sites.

Sean Keane | June 17, 2020 5:27 a.m. PT

The Justice Department will propose rolling back legal protections that online platforms have had since the 1990s and try to make sites more vigilant about policing content, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. This follows President Donald Trump's executive order targeting social media companies.

The proposal could be announced Wednesday, reported the Journal, citing a Trump administration official. The president's order, which came in late May, called for a government review into Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects online companies from liability for content posted by users.

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. New GOP Bill Allows Lawsuits Against Social Media

This isn't speculative.

New GOP Bill Allows Lawsuits Against Social Media
June 17, 2020 Republicans, Social Media

NBC News reports:

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., unveiled his latest attack on tech’s liability shield in a new bill Wednesday. The “Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act” would allow Americans to sue tech companies that censor political speech or hide content from competitors. Republicans have long complained that tech platforms like Facebook and Twitter censor conservative speech.

The bill appears to be part of a three-pronged attack on Section 230 protections for tech companies alongside the Department of Justice and the White House. Section 230 is the statute that frees online platforms from liability for their users’ posts while allowing them to engage in good faith content moderation. Tech industry groups have warned that revisions to Section 230 could have the unintended consequence of stifling speech.

Unintended?

[Cicada]

2. Conservatives will lose the most from this

If an outlet can be sued for anything they broadcast, then they will refuse to broadcast the creepiest stuff. And most if the creepy stuff comes from the right. Pizza restaurant sex dungeons, fake school shootings, Hillary eating children, Schumer getting his daughter’s friend pregnant, covid19 a hiax, etc. No sane outlet will carry a Trump speech.

[Liberal4Lyfe]

3. YIKES