Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota proposed on Friday to fight discrimination, harassment, and stalking online, by modifying legal liability protections afforded to digital platforms for content posted by their users.
Federal lawmakers have proposed changing the liability protections provided under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as an antidote to many of society’s problems, including child exploitation, alleged anti-conservative political bias within Big Tech companies, and drug crime. The Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism, and Consumer Harms (SAFE TECH) Act proposed by the trio of Democrats on Friday adds to the growing lists of lawmakers’ reasons for wanting to crack down on Big Tech.
“Section 230 has provided a ’Get Out of Jail Free’ card to the largest platform companies even as their sites are used by scam artists, harassers, and violent extremists to cause damage and injury,” said Mr. Warner in a statement. “This bill doesn’t interfere with free speech—it’s about allowing these platforms to finally be held accountable for harmful, often criminal behavior enabled by their platforms to which they have turned a blind eye for too long.”
Ms. Hirono added that the proposed bill made clear internet platforms must face potential civil penalties if they do not work to address the harms that she said they impose on society.
The Democratic trio touted support for their bill from liberal civil rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund among others.
Bipartisan support exists for changing Section 230, but no bipartisan consensus has yet emerged regarding the reasons for changing the liability protections, for the intended policy results, and for the mechanisms used to make such changes.
Sen. Jon Cornyn, a Texas Republican who opposed former President Trump’s end-of-term effort to change Section 230 in a defense policy bill, partnered with Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, on a different Section 230 proposal earlier this week. Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Manchin introduced the “See Something, Say Something Online Act,” which focused on illicit drug sales as prompting their desired policy changes.
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