Congress considers blowing up internet law

Section 230 protects social media platforms, newspaper comment sections, and other online forums from being held liable for content their users post, and protects platforms if they choose to limit or remove that content. It’s foundational to many online services, but critics believe its protections are too sprawling and outdated for massively successful Big Tech companies. The law faced another round of attack at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, this time with two distinct undercurrents complicating the conversation. One was an unprecedented wave of ongoing legal challenges to the law’s scope, and the second was a heightened bipartisan concern over government censorship. “Section 230 is not one of the Ten Commandments,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said in his opening remarks. “This idea that we can’t touch it, otherwise internet freedom incinerates, is preposterous.” Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have introduced a bill to sunset Section 230 entirely just as the law turned 30 years old, while other proposals seek to narrow its scope.