Four years ago, then-president Donald Trump railed against a little-known law that protects websites from liability for content posted on their websites by third parties. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has been a hot-button issue to this day, with Democrats and Republicans alike clamoring for reform. Still, in all that time, nothing has been done. That’s because those on the right and left have vastly different ideas for what reform should look like. The lack of movement has led several states to introduce bills to deal with content moderation on their own.
That’s a bad idea. Enacting such legislation would be detrimental to users and harmful to small businesses. In addition, it would face all kinds of legal challenges.
One of the common forces driving legislation in states like Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and others is the notion that conservatives are being censored by big tech companies. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. While conservatives will point to the Hunter Biden fiasco, it won't change the fact conservatives are often the top performers across big tech platforms. They're among the biggest beneficiaries of a free and open internet.
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