If President Trump’s executive order on removing Section 230 were to be enforced, we would have a very different version of social media as we know it today.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would seek to remove the protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, making social networks and internet services responsible for what people post on their platforms.
Even with an executive order, a fundamental change to Section 230 is far away. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would need to approve new interpretations of the clause and take new enforcement actions to give it teeth, and it would require congressional approval. But, the tech industry is still wary of what a world would look like without Section 230’s protections.
Daniel Castro, the vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on public policy and technological innovation, said internet giants losing their Section 230 protections would have troubling effects.
