WASHINGTON — Rep. Jimmy Patronis of Florida has become the latest member of Congress to propose legislation that would repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects interactive computer services — including adult platforms — from liability for user-generated content.
Patronis introduced HR 7045 in the House of Representatives earlier this week.
A statement posted on his website declared, “For too long, the law has prevented parties harmed by online content from obtaining relief. Instead of protecting our younger generations from sensitive content, these sites prioritize profit over safety while continuing to push out harmful, explicit, and dangerous materials without any accountability.”
Would-be reformers on both sides of the aisle have vilified “Big Tech” for profiting from illegal and harmful content and seek to pressure platforms to moderate such content more intensively by making them liable when third parties post it. Right-wing critics also claim that social media platforms use the rule as a shield allowing them to censor conservative speech and seek to limit platforms’ right to moderate content as they see fit.
As XBIZ reported in December, two other repeal bills are currently pending in Congress: HR 6746, the Sunset to Reform Section 230 Act, which would amend Section 230 by adding simply, “This section shall have no force or effect after December 31, 2026,” and S 3546, which calls for the repeal of Section 230 effective two years following enactment.
Industry attorneys and advocates have voiced strong concerns that opening up Section 230 to tinkering could easily pave the way for a variety of specific “carve-outs,” in the tradition of FOSTA/SESTA’s exemptions revoking liability protections for sites that “unlawfully promote and facilitate” prostitution or sex trafficking.
A carve-out aimed at or including the industry would effectively repeal Section 230 as far as adult platforms are concerned. This would render adult sites that host user-generated content legally liable for that content, opening the floodgates for civil lawsuits.