Section 230

Brian Wilson

President Donald Trump is right to go after Twitter and other social media companies and remove the protections of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act.

Section 230 protects Facebook, Twitter and and other social media companies from being sued over what users post.

The code was formulated in an era of idealism where judges and law makers viewed the internet as a place of lofty discussions where opposing viewpoints could be shared and bridges of understanding be built.

Instead of lofty discussions we see flame wars in a spiraling social media cesspit. Instead of building bridges between divergent viewpoints, the echo-chamber inducing algorithms guarantee that any user is surrounded by opinions that are the same as their own allowing the belief of false consensus on a range of topics across the political spectrum.

The framers of Section 230 viewed the internet and social media platforms as being just that, platforms the proverbial soapboxes in the town square available for all to stand up and spew forth whatever they want without fear of retribution.

Social media has since become the platform of lies. This is bad enough when your neighbor brags about his perfect children, perfect wife and perfect job when you know the cops have been to his house three times in the past week. These lies and exaggerations reach a different level when they are made with impunity by politicians and wannabe power-brokers.

It is no surprise to anyone who has graduated kindergarten that politicians lie. Often this is done through massaging the truth and spinning some kernel to make their point. Other times, politicians will employ, what is known is the conman trade, as “the big lie.” Say something preposterous with enough authority and often enough and people begin to believe it is true. This is especially pernicious in social media because of how easy it is to share posts, further spreading the lie.

It is time to end the social media cesspit and eliminate the Section 230 protections for social media platforms. They should be on an equal playing field with traditional news organization and have responsibility for what they publish.

News organizations have protection from governmental pre-publication censorship, but are accountable for what they print or broadcast to ensure that they do not cross the line into libel or defamation. With social media platforms profiting from the speech posted on their sites, those businesses should equally be responsible for the harm caused from those posts.

Elimination of the Section 230 shield will open the door to parents of children driven to suicide by online bullying to sue the media platforms for not having protections from bullying in place. Victims of online stalking and doxing should have recourse media platforms when their lives are put in danger by information published.

It is time to set aside the Pollyanna rose-tinted glasses of the framers of Section 230 and recognize that at least when it comes to social media interactions philosopher Thomas Hobbes had it right when he wrote that outside the bounds of social contracts the natural condition of humans is “solitary, poore, nasty brutish, and short.”

President Trump should be applauded for recognizing the real threat of social media and his efforts to eradicate the Section 230 shield should proceed as swiftly as possible.

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The Star News strives for 100% accuracy in all of our products. Like any human beings we sometimes miss that mark.

The problem is that when we make a mistake it is put in print and distributed to more than 5,000 people.

Last week The Star News published a salute to the Class of 2020. In it, Michael Mahner, Nick Mahner, Kyle Petrick, Austin Shaw, Cade Shipman and Wyatt Sherfield were incorrectly identified as being “daughters” rather than “sons.” This is the sort of error that should have been caught at multiple points in the proofreading process.

To say that The Star News regrets the errors is an understatement. We can simply say we are sorry and will try harder in the future.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.