Senators want to make social media liable for spreading health misinformation
Two Senators are introducing a new bill that would strip Section 230 protections from social media companies should they facilitate the spread of misinformation about a public health crisis -- like COVID.
Credit: WikiMedia Commons
Lawmakers are continuing to examine Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter against being sued for users' posts. Separately, two Senators now want to create a carveout from the Section 230 protections for health misinformation posted by users.
The Health Misinformation Act is by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). According to The Verge, the act directs the Health and Human Services Secretary to create and issue guidelines on what counts as misinformation about health.
"For far too long, online platforms have not done enough to protect the health of Americans," said Klobuchar in a statement. "These are some of the biggest, richest companies in the world and they must do more to prevent the spread of deadly vaccine misinformation."
"The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how lethal misinformation can be and it is our responsibility to take action," she continued.
Kevin Martin, Facebook's vice president of public policy said that the company believes the bill could be positive for the technology industry.
"We have long supported common industry standards and section 230 reform," he said. "We believe clarification on the difficult and urgent questions about health related misinformation would be helpful and look forward to working with Congress and the industry as we consider options for reform."
As currently planned, the proposed bill would see Facebook, and others, become liable where such health misinformation is related to an emergency such as the coronavirus. Where the senators want the exception to Section 230 to apply is when such misinformation is being spread and amplified because of the social media company's algorithms, versus a chronological feed.
At present, Section 230 specifically protects platforms against illegal content being shared on their platforms. The changes seem unlikely to pass, as it isn't clear how the proposal squares with first amendment protections. Lies and even willful misinformation are protected by the first amendment against law creation such as this, and there are decades of legal precedent supporting that viewpoint.
The proposal comes just days after President Biden's accusation that Facebook and other platforms were "killing people" with misinformation. The President later rephrased that comment to say that it isn't Facebook that is killing people, it is the misinformation that is being circulated and amplified by such platforms.
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Credit: WikiMedia Commons
Lawmakers are continuing to examine Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter against being sued for users' posts. Separately, two Senators now want to create a carveout from the Section 230 protections for health misinformation posted by users.
The Health Misinformation Act is by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). According to The Verge, the act directs the Health and Human Services Secretary to create and issue guidelines on what counts as misinformation about health.
"For far too long, online platforms have not done enough to protect the health of Americans," said Klobuchar in a statement. "These are some of the biggest, richest companies in the world and they must do more to prevent the spread of deadly vaccine misinformation."
"The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how lethal misinformation can be and it is our responsibility to take action," she continued.
Kevin Martin, Facebook's vice president of public policy said that the company believes the bill could be positive for the technology industry.
"We have long supported common industry standards and section 230 reform," he said. "We believe clarification on the difficult and urgent questions about health related misinformation would be helpful and look forward to working with Congress and the industry as we consider options for reform."
As currently planned, the proposed bill would see Facebook, and others, become liable where such health misinformation is related to an emergency such as the coronavirus. Where the senators want the exception to Section 230 to apply is when such misinformation is being spread and amplified because of the social media company's algorithms, versus a chronological feed.
At present, Section 230 specifically protects platforms against illegal content being shared on their platforms. The changes seem unlikely to pass, as it isn't clear how the proposal squares with first amendment protections. Lies and even willful misinformation are protected by the first amendment against law creation such as this, and there are decades of legal precedent supporting that viewpoint.
The proposal comes just days after President Biden's accusation that Facebook and other platforms were "killing people" with misinformation. The President later rephrased that comment to say that it isn't Facebook that is killing people, it is the misinformation that is being circulated and amplified by such platforms.
Proposal to Strip 230 Protections From Public Health Crisis Minsinformation by Mike Wuerthele on Scribd
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Comments
The anti-vaxxer crap is only a small part of it.
It’s ludicrous that companies like Apple must go through all sorts of regulatory hurdles just to be able to offer some health data monitoring on a watch, while companies like Facebook aid and abet to large profits the spread of deadly health disinformation.
But even the truth can be manipulated. The news media is now reporting about breakthrough infections, side effects, etc. that are being used by the conspiracy theorists to claim the vaccines are useless.
Fox News has "news" in the name and there's a presumption that what they say has some semblance of truth.
Yeahhhh, no, that's not how vaccines work.. it's not that black and white. Here's the bigger issue: why are people still not vaccinated and allowing the variants to happen? A variant is not the same virus and therefore you might not be as protected against it with the vaccine you already have. Ergo... those that got vaccinated aren't having an issue with the original covid but now have the possibility of dealing with the variant because of "conspiracy theories". In the end, even a variant will not harm a vaccinated person as harshly as it would someone who isn't.... but variants continue to variant.. and eventually, it's not helpful. The questions you are asking have been answered... if you don't understand the answers then ACCEPT that people much smarter than you are trying to help you. If you don't believe them, that's on you.. and that makes you the dangerous conspiracy theorist.
Very good point.
Let's start with the ones who've had the vaccine and are encouraging stupid people not to take it.
1. The government should not be involved with this.
2. Social media sites shouldn't attempt to be the arbiter of truth either. Let free speech happen with the exception of #3 (below)
3. Social media sites should conduct only light moderation. It's fair to remove blatantly obvious hate speech and posting of things like trade secrets or copyrighted material should be removed. Beyond that, let people post what they want.