General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why would Democrats be so adamant about not repealing 230/setting up election commission? [View all]Demsrule86
(68,552 posts)users post...nothing to do with encryption. The fact that Trump and all GOP types want it gone should give you pause.
https://fee.org/articles/what-is-section-230-and-why-do-trump-and-his-allies-want-to-repeal-it/
"Republican Congressman Chris Cox and I wrote Section 230 in 1996 to give up-and-coming tech companies a sword and a shield, and to foster free speech and innovation online. Essentially, 230 says that users, not the website that hosts their content, are the ones responsible for what they post, whether on Facebook or in the comments section of a news article. That's what I call the shield.
But it also gave companies a sword so that they can take down offensive content, lies and slime the stuff that may be protected by the First Amendment but that most people do not want to experience online. And so they are free to take down white supremacist content or flag tweets that glorify violence (as Twitter did with President Trump's recent tweet) without fear of being sued for bias or even of having their site shut down. Section 230 gives the executive branch no leeway to do either.
It can seem complicated, but its actually fairly straightforward. Section 230 simply says that only internet users are responsible for what they write, not the private companies whose websites host the commenters. Secondly, it affirms what the First Amendment already impliesthat private companies dont have to host speech that violates their values."