Department of Justice Will Hold February 2020 Workshop on Section 230 Which Will Impact Tech Stakeholders

Earlier this month, we released a blog post titled Tech Companies and the Uncertain Future of §230. In it we focused on what Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is and how the tech community would be impacted by changes currently being debated by both sides of the political aisle in Congress. 

Interestingly, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will hold a public workshop in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 19, 2020, titled “Section 230 – Nurturing Innovation or Fostering Unaccountability?” According to the DOJ the workshop will discuss the law, its expansive interpretation by the courts, its impact on the American people and business community, and whether improvements to the law should be made. 

Additionally, the Department stated “Following the public workshop, the Justice Department will invite stakeholders with diverse perspectives for private listening sessions and roundtables to seek additional input and discuss the problems, benefits, and potential improvements to Section 230.  The department will publish readouts on the various perspectives and debate from those meetings.”

Congressional officials have been increasing their desire to modify this law. Democrats have complained that the law allows tech companies to be lax in patrolling misinformation or violent extreme content while Republicans have advocated that the law prevents them from imposing actions against tech companies for removing conservative political content.  

As we continue to become an increasingly connected world, being able to digitally share content with each other is not likely to slow down anytime soon. However; the market and our intentions in sharing data have changed significantly since when section 230 was enacted in 1996. While major tech titans like Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet are at the center of this debate, we foresee that other tech stakeholders should take note of these developments and plan accordingly. We don’t believe that this debate will slow down at all so making adaption to section 230 is key. Contact Lanton Law for more details.