August 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The conservative Media Research Center (MRC) is calling on concerned Americans to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to review a contentious portion of federal law at the heart of the battle over free speech online.
Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act immunizes websites from being held liable for the third-party content they host, such as posts or tweets by social media users. This provision has been credited with helping the internet thrive, and in recent years, it has been seen as a potential means of addressing the increasing control internet platforms exert over right-of-center content.
The MRC’s Free Speech Alliance (of which LifeSiteNews is a member) is currently working on gathering as many public comments to the FCC as possible urging the commission to review how Section 230 is currently interpreted and applied.
“Big Tech is currently immune from lawsuits regarding censorship due to a small part of a law from the mid-1990s,” reads the landing page where readers can submit comments. “Section 230 protects the tech giants from being sued for their content, and censorship of that content.”
MRC calls an FCC review the “first step in holding Big Tech accountable” but warns, “We’re not the only ones submitting comments. Big Tech is strongly opposed to any changes to their current sweetheart deal. Their friends on the left are leaving comments and doing everything they can to oppose a rule change.”
The effort is meant to help support an executive order President Donald Trump signed in May, aimed at tweaking how federal agencies interpret and enforce Section 230. The order essentially directs the FCC to propose an administrative rule that would “spell out what it means for the tech giants to carry out their takedown policies ‘in good faith,’” national security attorney Stewart Baker explained.