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2020 Election Puts Focus on Twitter, Facebook Content Moderation

Katherine Gypson

   WASHINGTON - The nation's top technology leaders urged U.S. lawmakers
   Wednesday to keep content moderation protections in place, despite
   growing calls from Republicans to address perceived bias in the way
   social media companies handle free speech online.

   Online companies are shielded from liability for content on their sites
   under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Those
   protections apply to companies of all sizes operating online that use
   third-party content. But some Republicans contend Section 230 is a
   "carve-out" for larger companies such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing
   them to censor content based on political viewpoints and use their
   considerable reach to influence public discourse.

   U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to Section 230 in a Tweet
   Wednesday, saying "The USA doesn't have Freedom of the Press, we have
   Suppression of the Story, or just plain Fake News. So much has been
   learned in the last two weeks about how corrupt our Media is, and now
   Big Tech, maybe even worse. Repeal Section 230!"

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