Internet industry groups sued Florida over its social media law that makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites be transparent about policing. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. “The Act is so rife with fundamental infirmities that it appears to have been enacted without any regard for the Constitution,” they wrote. Our earlier news bulletin is here.
Section 230
Internet industry groups sued Florida over its social media law that makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites to be transparent about policing.
Regulators should immediately break up Facebook and act against its entities, protesters said outside the company’s lobbying headquarters in Washington on Tuesday. Participants told us the company hasn’t been responsive to specific demands, is incapable of self-correcting and has built a large U.S. corporate lobbying operation.
There’s no obvious path for the FTC or the FCC to regulate online platform speech, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips and FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington agreed Wednesday. Policymakers struggle to regulate speech that violates community standards when they can’t identify consensus standards, Simington told a Federalist Society event, noting he’s not confident the FCC can or should do anything about speech on digital platforms. “There’s no consensus for speech regulation in the digital media era” and no obvious regulatory path forward, he said.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are “pretty close” to reintroducing the Earn It Act (see 2008050039), without major changes anticipated, Blumenthal told us. He led a Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday, where witnesses offered potential solutions for online child exploitation. Blumenthal and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., criticized TikTok for refusing to testify.
President Joe Biden revoked former President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at addressing what Trump saw as social media censorship (see 2005280060). Trump’s sought an FCC rulemaking to clarify its interpretation of liability protections under Communications Decency Act Section 230. That proceeding didn't advance during the closing days of Ajit Pai's chairmanship (see 2101050060) and hasn't seen movement. Friday's EO also nixed other Trump presidential directives. The Center for Democracy & Technology praised Biden for killing the social media EO.
A Texas social media regulation bill cleared the House State Affairs Committee 8-5 Friday. The Senate earlier passed SB-12, which would allow private lawsuits against social media companies that moderate content. It’s one of many state bills seeking to rein in social media amid the federal debate about Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2104190030).
Communications Decency Act Section 230 and similar language shouldn’t be included in trade agreements, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., wrote U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai Monday. It would be “inappropriate” to export such language with ongoing policy discussions about Section 230, they wrote: “Given that our Committee closely oversees Section 230 and all portions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, we also hope the Office of the United States Trade Representative will consult our Committee in the future in advance of negotiating on these issues.” Pallone wrote a similar letter to the Donald Trump administration with then-ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. (see 1908060064).
Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube denied their business models are based on maximizing user engagement, during a hearing Tuesday in which members of both parties raised concerns. The power of social media companies over people’s lives is “of great concern” to a wide number of legislators, Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., told us. “Exactly what statutory, regulatory or voluntary measures can best address it, I think it would be premature after the first hour of our first hearing to say I have an endgame in mind.”
Congress should clarify FTC Act Section 13(b) and “revive” the agency’s “ability to enjoin illegal conduct and return to consumers money they have lost,” all four commissioners wrote in a statement that acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter delivered to the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee.