The most ardent opponent of technology companies in the US has become the youngest member of the Republican Party in the history of American politics, Missouri Senator Joshua David Hawley (Josh Hawley). He became a senator at the age of 39. Obviously, he understands the issue and knows how modern technologies infringe on citizens and society. Hawley's new project was Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act. And it can be understood. During the previous presidential campaign, the team of the incumbent US President Donald Trump in the Internet media got well from opponents and ill-wishers. During elections for a second term, it would be desirable to avoid repeating history.
Hawley's proposed bill calls for repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. According to this article, Internet sites and companies owning them are protected (have immunity) from obscene or threatening publications of users and visitors. In the event of prosecution for defamation, threat or insult, only the author of the message, and not the resource on which this message is posted, is liable. If Hawley's bill becomes law, Internet resource owners will also be judged.
It is easy to understand that the removal of immunity from Internet sites will completely change the way companies do business, whose revenue relies on the massive exchange of information by users. It threatens Facebook, Google, Twitter and the like. However, the bill provides for the return of censorship only to large resources with more than 30 million registered US citizens, 300 million users worldwide and an annual turnover of at least $500 million. Companies with such an audience will have to introduce pre-moderation and delete objectionable messages before they are published on the resource .
At the same time, the bill provides for the possibility of restoring immunity under Section 230 of the CDA. To do this, companies must develop algorithms to remove messages objectionable to the authorities and once every two years report on the effectiveness of the algorithms to the US Federal Trade Commission (Federal Trade Commission). By doing so, the FTC will determine whether Internet companies adhere to a "neutral policy." The senator's motivation is simple. The number of "fakes" is growing on the Internet and international terrorists are raising their heads. Citizens should be protected from these threats, and not from what these same citizens thought.
Source: 3dnews.ru