October 2018

During an Oct 17 debate in his campaign for re-election, Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), when asked about whether Congress should regulate online social media, referenced Section 230 of the1996 Communications Decency Act. He began first by explaining that he took Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to task for Facebook privileging content from certain political viewpoints. He then went on to say that if tech companies are not acting impartial to content, then they shouldn’t be held to the rules that say they are.

Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist and often accused of destroying journalism, is now doing his best to revive it. Researchers eventually estimated that Craigslist had drained $5 billion from American newspapers over a seven-year period. In the Bay Area, the media was especially hard hit. Newmark is trying to stop the bleeding — although not there. He is among a gaggle of West Coast technology moguls who are riding to the rescue of the beleaguered East Coast media.