That didn’t take long.
Just a week into the new Congress and days after social media erased President Trump’s accounts, a key lawmaker today moved to end the immunity Big Tech firms, including Twitter and Facebook, receive under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd told Secrets that he was putting the bill in the hopper today and hoped it would put liberal social media platforms limiting conservative voices on notice.
“Recent acts of political censorship by Big Tech are a national disgrace and a threat to the free speech rights of every American,” Budd said.
Big Tech silences a sitting American President while they do nothing to “moderate” Iranian Ayatollahs or Communist Chinese propaganda.
My official Parler account is @RepTedBudd.
— Congressman Ted Budd (@RepTedBudd) January 9, 2021
“Big Tech companies like Twitter and Facebook have gone too far in suffocating the voices of conservatives across our country. If these companies want to continue to receive special legal protection, they should be forced to play by a fair set of rules,” he added.
His Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act echoes legislation he offered late last year after the social media platforms censored a New York Post article about President-elect Joe Biden’s family’s alleged ties to Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.
The legislation last year was offered in the Senate by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.
The provision blocks users from suing the platforms for comments made by users, who instead can be sued.
Budd’s office described the bill: “The bill allows Americans to file lawsuits against Big Tech companies who breach good faith user agreements, censor political speech, and suppress content. The bill also prohibits Big Tech companies from receiving Section 230 protections unless they change their terms of service to promise to operate in good faith and be subject to a $5,000 fine, actual damages, and attorney’s fees if they violate the agreement.”
Trump has pushed for the section to be removed, but majorities in Congress balked. He also issued an executive order on the immunity provision.
Since last week’s protests and riot at the Capitol, social media platforms have moved aggressively against Trump and his supporters. What’s more, others have limited or cut internet server space to sites used by conservatives or those sympathetic to Trump, such as Amazon’s ban on Parler.
