A top US Democratic lawmaker wants to empower the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc, among other technology platforms, if they fail to remove content that breaches their terms of service and community standards.
US Representative Jan Schakowsky, who chairs a subcommittee on consumer protection, said that she plans to introduce a bill that would clarify that if technology companies fail to fulfill the “assurances” made to users in their terms and conditions, community standards, advertising rules and content moderation policies, they could face enforcement from the FTC.
The initiative falls into a flurry of measures that aim to limit a much-cherished liability shield for user content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Many of the initiatives are coming from Republicans, including US President Donald Trump, as a way to address their claims that social media sites silence conservative voices.
“Irrespective of what Trump is saying, we’re going to move ahead in a bipartisan way to do what we need to do to protect consumers,” Schakowsky said.
The FTC already polices businesses under its authority to enforce against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Schakowsky’s bill would clarify that Section 230 cannot be used as a defense in those cases.
The idea behind the bill would be to treat Facebook’s failure to block a post advocating, say, white supremacy or Google’s inability to stop an ad for masks, both of which are banned, the same way the FTC treats broken promises by companies to deliver cures or cybersecurity protection.
The agency could seek injunctions, consent decrees and fines for repeat offenders.
Facebook and Google have extensive bans on certain kinds of content, including COVID-19 scams, medical misinformation, posts inciting violence, terrorist content, harassment, hate speech, illegal drug sales, and violent and graphic content.
Facebook and Instagram have also taken action to ban white-nationalist content on their platforms as well, while Google bans counterfeit goods and dangerous products, and says that it protects advertisers “from invalid activity and advertising fraud.”
A Google representative declined to comment. Facebook representatives could not be reached for comment after business hours on Wednesday.
Schakowsky’s concern, which some of her Republican colleagues share, is that technology companies would try to duck any FTC enforcement of their content-moderation policies by invoking Section 230.
The provision exempts them from liability for third-party posts, but has been interpreted by courts to free companies from much scrutiny over what content they leave up or take down.
“Bottom line, we want to clarify that there is no doubt that 230 is not going to be the escape hatch,” Schakowsky said.
By example, Schakowsky pointed to an effort by Airbnb Inc to escape local regulation of short-term rental listing by invoking the provision, though a federal court rebuffed the effort.
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