Washington – US Attorney General William
Barr on Wednesday questioned whether Facebook, Google and other
major online platforms still need the immunity from legal
liability that has prevented them from being sued over material
their users post.
"No longer are tech companies the underdog upstarts. They
have become titans," Barr said at a public meeting held by the
Justice Department to examine the future of Section 230 of
the Communications Decency Act.
"Given this changing technological landscape, valid
questions have been raised about whether Section 230's broad
immunity is necessary at least in its current form," he said.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act says online
companies such as Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google
and Twitter Inc cannot be treated as the
publisher or speaker of information they provide.
This largely
exempts them from liability involving content posted by users,
although they can be held liable for content that violates
criminal or intellectual property law.
Barr's comments offered insight into how regulators in
Washington are reconsidering the need for incentives that once
helped online companies grow but are increasingly viewed as
impediments to curbing online crime, hate speech and extremism.
The increased size and power of online platforms has also
left consumers with fewer options and the lack of feasible
alternatives is a relevant discussion, Barr said, adding that
the Section 230 review came out of the Justice Department's
broader look at potential anticompetitive practices at tech
companies.
Lawmakers from both major political parties have called for
Congress to change Section 230 in ways that could expose tech
companies to more lawsuits or significantly increase their
costs.
Some Republicans have expressed concern that Section 230
prevents them from taking action against internet services that
remove conservative political content, while a few Democratic
leaders have said the law allows the services to escape
punishment for harboring misinformation and extremist content.
Barr said the department would not advocate a position at
the meeting but would listen to stakeholders.
Doug Peterson, attorney general of Nebraska, said at the
meeting that the law limits investigations into online crimes
such as human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, drug
sales, consumer fraud.
"Some of the online providers who we feel are culpable or
have aided and abetted that, should not be able to say they are
safe or immune due to Section 230."
Some speakers urged keeping the law in place but working
with companies to bolster initiatives to report crimes, work
with law enforcement and hire more people to review content.
Matt Schruers, president of the Computer and Communications
Industry Association, which counts Google and Facebook as
members, said "there is no question more investment can and
should be done in this area... but I don't think the misconduct
by some bad actors can be generalised across the board".
Others such as Kate Klonick, a professor at St John's
University Law School in New York, said here is a "huge
difference" between the handful of big platforms and the
millions of online sites that facilitate harmful content on
their platform.
"There is a moment in techlash that is happening right now,
in which it seems easy to gang up on big online platforms."
She
said big platforms, especially Facebook, have taken robust steps
to tackle harmful content in the past few years. Klonick, whose
website says she is an affiliate fellow at Yale University Law
School's Information Society Project, said she does not
represent any big tech company.