Under the right circumstances, there’s good reason for tech companies to have this type of immunity. If Facebook were legally responsible for everything its more than 2 billion users post, then it would enforce overly restrictive rules and restrictions and block lawful posts. Because Congress explicitly acknowledged that these platforms served as a “forum for a true diversity of political discourse,” it granted this important privilege.
However, as Senator-elect Josh Hawley — who was an active leader on challenging the power of big tech when he served as Missouri attorney general, and shows every sign of leading this fight in the Senate — pointed out, these platforms no longer support the political diversity that the law was premised on. Instead, big tech relentlessly censors conservatives. They take all of the benefit of the provision, while accepting none of the costs.
Similarly, Sen. Ted Cruz has argued that dominant tech platforms aren’t acting neutrally, so they “should be considered to be a ‘publisher or speaker’ of user content if they pick and choose what gets published or spoken.”
[clip]
However, the agreement changes the law to let tech companies remove whatever they find “harmful or objectionable.” According to Candeub, these changes will “likely lead courts to interpret it to mean whatever the platforms object to — which has thus far included the word ‘illegal alien,’ pro-life advertisements, videos defending ‘Israel’s Legal Founding,’ and President Trump’s own immigration advertisements.”
How The New NAFTA Trade Deal Lets Big Tech Squelch Conservative Speech
However, as Senator-elect Josh Hawley — who was an active leader on challenging the power of big tech when he served as Missouri attorney general, and shows every sign of leading this fight in the Senate — pointed out, these platforms no longer support the political diversity that the law was premised on. Instead, big tech relentlessly censors conservatives. They take all of the benefit of the provision, while accepting none of the costs.
Similarly, Sen. Ted Cruz has argued that dominant tech platforms aren’t acting neutrally, so they “should be considered to be a ‘publisher or speaker’ of user content if they pick and choose what gets published or spoken.”
[clip]
However, the agreement changes the law to let tech companies remove whatever they find “harmful or objectionable.” According to Candeub, these changes will “likely lead courts to interpret it to mean whatever the platforms object to — which has thus far included the word ‘illegal alien,’ pro-life advertisements, videos defending ‘Israel’s Legal Founding,’ and President Trump’s own immigration advertisements.”
How The New NAFTA Trade Deal Lets Big Tech Squelch Conservative Speech