The FCC was asked by four U.S. Senators on Tuesday to examine whether the protection of internet companies should be revised after President Donald Trump urged action.
Trump announced last month that he intends to “remove or change” a law that shields social media platforms from responsibility over content shared by their users and ordered the U.S. Commerce Department to ask the FCC to take action within 60 days.
Senators Marco Rubio, Kelly Loeffler, Kevin Cramer and Josh Hawley urged the FCC to review Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and to clearly establish the conditions by which businesses will be covered under the Act.
“Social media companies have become involved in a range of editorial and promotional activity; like publishers, they monetize, edit, and otherwise editorialize user content. It is time to take a fresh look at Section 230 and to interpret the vague standard of ‘good faith’ with specific guidelines and direction,” the senators wrote.
“These entities are now engaged in censorship,” said U.S. Attorney General William Barr, in an interview aired on Fox News Channel on Tuesday, echoed the senators’ views.
White House Speaker Judd Deere noted Trump’s Executive Order formally requesting the FCC to take a second look at Section 230.
Trump’s order seeks to restrict their legal protections after Twitter Inc added a notice that one of his tweets violated its rules for “glorifying violence,” shortly after it struck a fact-check label on another of his tweets opposing voting by mail. It was the first time that Twitter had challenged his posts.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said on Tuesday the order poses a lot “of very complex issues.”
His earlier tweet read, “As a conservative, I’m troubled voices are stifled by liberal tech leaders. At same time, I’m extremely dedicated to the First Amendment which governs much here.”
FCC
