Twitter CEO says Online Liability Reform would lead to increased harmful content

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has told US Senate that a proposal to reform a law providing online liability protection could lead to “more harmful content” by limiting the ability of the platform to remove abusive materials. His comments were an excerpt from his prepared testimony that is to be given at a Senate hearing on October 28. Dorsey, along with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sunder Pichai, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on a law known as Section 230, Pledge Times reported.

What is section 230?

As per Section 230, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider" This implies that “online intermediaries” or social media platforms, that host or republish speech are “protected against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do,” Electronic Frontier Foundation explained.

While defenders of the law have argued that it allowed online services to flourish without fear of law, many others pointed out that Section 230 was too lenient and enables the “proliferation of abusive content” and incitements to violence. Adding to that, Republicans have reiterated that it social media platforms were using the law to suppress conservatives.

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Meanwhile, Dorsey said that currently Section 230 allowed platforms to remove online ‘hate speech’ and other inappropriate content. However, he added that abolishing the foundation of section 230 could destroy the medium of conversation on the internet. “Only large and funded technology companies will be saved from this,” he said.

The law made headlines after both Twitter and Facebook restricted users to share the link of The New York Post’s article which accused Democratic electoral candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden of using his father’s influence for gains. While, Twitter prevented people from sharing the link to the article, warning that people that it could be “potentially unsafe”, Facebook took steps to restrict access to the article.

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Image: AP