Cyber Law Expert: Politicized Anti-Section 230 Proposals Target Adult Content

Cyber Law Expert: Politicized Anti-Section 230 Proposals Target Adult Content

WASHINGTON — In a damning new op-ed, one of the nation’s foremost cyber law experts described the onslaught of legislative proposals and recommendations to abolish Section 230 — the so-called “First Amendment of the internet — recently unleashed by the White House, Attorney General William Barr, Senator Lindsey Graham and others, as “Trump-backed rules for online speech: 'no' to porn, 'yes' to election disinformation and hate speech.”

The op-ed’s author, Daphne Keller, is Platform Regulation Director at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. It was published on Thursday by Slate as part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law which examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

Future Tense is a partnership of pioneering online publication Slate, New America and Arizona State University to focus on emerging technologies, public policy and society.

Keller’s op-ed is a lucid summation of the sad condition of the Section 230 debate, now completely eroded and politicized by a carnival of competing bipartisan bills.

As XBIZ has reported, none of these proposals are identical; each of them prioritizes the specific interests of their sponsors, from Graham’s insistence in creating a new government bureaucracy to make decisions about what deserves protection from liability and what does not, to the folksy cluelessness of Senator John Kennedy’s bizarre obsession with mind control and manipulation, to the more bipartisan PACT Act, which many observers consider the "adults-in-the-room" option.

Taking Down Pornography

Keller starts off by mentioning an unusually intrusive legislative recommendation by Barr’s Justice Department, one of several of Lindsey Graham’s anti-230 projects on the table.

“Both proposals were prompted by President Trump’s June 2020 executive order on social media, and revising the rules for platform content moderation reportedly remains one of the president’s top priorities for congressional Republicans,” Keller wrote. “The draft laws are extremely revealing about their proponents’ values and priorities, which include taking down pornography and other ‘lawful-but-awful’ online content, but not taking down things like hate speech and electoral disinformation.”

In earlier proposals, Keller continued, “Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley called for platforms to protect all speech, or to somehow create politically ‘neutral’ rules. The DOJ and Graham bills abandon that approach and instead spell out their drafters’ speech preferences. They would keep immunity in place only for specified categories of 'lawful-but-awful' speech, including pornography, barely legal harassment and pro-terrorist or pro-suicide material. But platforms would face new legal exposure if they take down content for reasons not included in this government-approved list — such as Holocaust denial, white supremacist racial theories and electoral disinformation.”

“Apparently in these lawmakers’ value systems, platforms should be free to take down 'The Virgin Suicides,' but not 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' recommendations to cure COVID-19 by ingesting bleach or misleading information about voting by mail,” Keller writes.

Keller points out that Democrats “haven’t been shy about telling platforms how to moderate user speech, either — they just have different preferred rules. Recent letters from Democrats in Congress have urged platforms to take stronger measures against election- and COVID-related disinformation, ‘violent, objectifying or dehumanizing speech’ about women and white supremacist recruitment and organizing.”

The op-ed also points out that the current phrasing of Section 230, which gave us the internet as we know it, was carefully crafted as “necessary to avoid the ‘moderator’s dilemma,’ in which fear of liability for unlawful user speech deters platforms from trying to moderate content at all.”

To read “Trump-Backed Rules for Online Speech: No to Porn, Yes to Election Disinformation and Hate Speech,” visit Slate.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

FPNCash Appoints Kimi Evans Head of Business Development

FPNCash has appointed Kimi Evans as its new head of business development.

CamModelDirectory Launches Platform Upgrade

CamModelDirectory has launched its CMD 3.0 platform upgrade.

AEBN Publishes Popular Searches by Country for June, July

AEBN has released the list of popular searches from its straight and gay theaters by country in June and July.

Playboy to Move Global HQ to Miami Beach

Playboy announced today that it will be moving its global corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Miami Beach.

Bellesa Plus Names Magalie Rheaut as Chief Growth Officer

Bellesa Plus has named Magalie Rheaut as its Chief Growth Officer.

PASS to Relaunch Performer Subsidy Fund

PASS has announced that it will relaunch the Performer Subsidy Fund (PSF) to cover sexually transmitted infection (STI) test panel costs for up to 10 people each month.

Pineapple Support Taps Austin Ponce as Brand Ambassador

Pineapple Support has named Austin Ponce as its newest brand ambassador.

Taylor Vixxen Stars in New DezyRed Interactive VR Game

Taylor Vixxen stars in an interactive VR game from DezyRed.

XBIZ Amsterdam's Jakarta Hotel Sold Out, Additional Hotels Announced

Guest rooms at XBIZ Amsterdam’s host conference venue, Jakarta Hotel, are now completely sold out.

X3 Expo Unveils 2026 All-Stars, Show Dates Set for Jan. 16-17

X3 Expo returns to the historic Hollywood Palladium on January 16–17, bringing together fans, creators and industry insiders for North America’s largest assembly of adult entertainment stars, alongside a dazzling lineup of attractions spotlighting the cutting edge of modern media and pleasure tech.

Show More