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Liberals and Conservatives Are Both Totally Wrong about Platform Immunity
Repealing “Section 230” won’t do what anyone wants
I like to think of myself as someone who’s been decently critical of excessively concentrated power in the tech platforms. Back in 2010, to general derision and laughter, I wrote that tech platform monopolies might well be a growing problem, and I like to flatter myself in suggesting I was early in calling for an antitrust campaign to break up Facebook.
But I have never really been on board with the idea that abolishing the private immunity of platforms is a good idea, or even very important for the goals that either the left or the right holds dear. It is, it seems to me, the wrong tree to bark at, a red herring, you choose the metaphor.
(If you’re reading this, you probably know what I’m talking about, but just in case: we are speaking of the repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which grants an immunity to platforms that host the content of others. It says, “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.” Some on the left have been calling for its repeal for some time; and Trump recently demanded that Congress repeal it.)
