Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?
The Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee wants the answer. And, he’s asking the question to the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet Inc. at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 28.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) will convene a hearing at 10am sharp that Wednesday, under the guise of an examination on whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act “has outlived its usefulness in today’s digital age.”
Timing is everything, and Democrats will likely wail at what they believe is the real reason behind the hearing — the denial by Facebook and Twitter of allowing its users to share a questionable New York Post article based on recovered emails from a computer once owned by Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden.
The hearing will also examine legislative proposals “to modernize the decades-old law, increase transparency and accountability among big technology companies for their content moderation practices, and explore the impact of large ad-tech platforms on local journalism and consumer privacy.”
And, Senate Commerce Republicans assert, the hearing “will provide an opportunity to discuss the unintended consequences of Section 230’s liability shield and how best to preserve the internet as a forum for open discourse.”
Asked to testify: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The hearing will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building G50.
However, none of the CEOs will be present. All will participate, ironically, remotely via digital internet-delivered communication.
Witness testimony, opening statements, and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.commerce.senate.gov.
