The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based nonprofit backed by the internet giants, sued over the order in June, arguing it violates the First Amendment. And voter advocacy groups in late August filed a separate suit, arguing it would hurt voters who get electoral information through social media.
Although the Biden campaign balked at Trump’s executive order, the former vice president found himself in rare agreement with Trump about the legal protections it targets. Biden said in an interview published in January that the online industry’s legal shield afforded under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should be “immediately” revoked, but his campaign hasn’t outlined how he would revamp or revoke it.
But the two candidates hold the same position for opposite reasons: Trump says social media platforms have been too punitive in cracking down on messages from him and his allies, while Biden says the companies haven’t done enough to curb misleading posts by politicians.
It remains unclear how Biden’s administration will tackle the issue, however. Asked about his position on Section 230 in May, a campaign spokesperson said Biden wants to use legislation to hold social media companies accountable for knowingly spreading falsehoods, without elaborating.
Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in the Democratic primary on a platform of modernizing regulations on tech and the future of work, said in an interview he’s against repealing Section 230 without a replacement and that he hopes to work with a potential Biden administration on reforming it instead.
“You don’t want to eliminate it altogether,” Yang said.
“Hopefully under a Biden-Harris administration we can start to do the hard work of figuring out what Section 230 should actually look like in 2020 or 2021,” he added.
Trump’s ‘disloyalty’ comment about American Jews who vote Democrat was disgusting and worrisome