Social media companies are generally not liable for user activity under a statute commonly known as Section 230, a 1996 law that was aimed at encouraging new forms of communication at the outset of the online era.

In the early days of the internet, there were several high-profile cases in which companies tried to suppress criticism by suing the owners of platforms.

One involved a lawsuit against the early online service Prodigy by Stratton Oakmont, the brokerage firm depicted in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The court found Prodigy was liable for allegedly defamatory comments by a user because it was a publisher that moderated the content on the service.

So let me get this straight, there has been established precedent set in court that if a company moderates their content heavily, they are no longer protected under section 230? Where’s the section 230 removal from Twitter, Facebook, and all Google Platforms?

@coyote The internet has moved on since 1996, how has the law kept up with that ?

@zleap it hasn't seemed to change much, don't know why 230 repeal is in the air if this legal precedent is already set. Not a lawer so I have no clue about actual practice of these laws, but I've not once heard mention that the solution to the problem may already be here.

@coyote I think it is an attempt to make these platforms more liable and therefore take responsibility for content, as they can be sued.