Abstract:
The more than three dozen undersigned public interest organizations, industry members, legal advocates, and academics share in the goal of a healthy, vibrant Internet, and we appreciate the time and energy the Subcommittee and its members have dedicated to this issue, including by holding today’s hearing on “Platform Accountability: Gonzalez and Reform.”
In policy conversations, Section 230 is often portrayed by critics as a protection for a handful of large companies. In practice, it’s a protection for the entire Internet ecosystem. It is what enables anyone—from a multi-billion-dollar Internet company, to a small startup, to a non-profit, to a single Internet user—to create a space for communities to gather online. Because of Section 230, people have more ways, places, and opportunities to connect than ever before. Absent Section 230’s framework, anyone looking to host or reshare other people’s expression would have to worry about a lawsuit—or just the threat of a lawsuit—any time one person wanted to silence another.
