The Deplatforming Wars, by David Cole.
Did you know that you have a Republican to thank for the rampant deplatforming of rightists? Yep, a do-gooder Republican. …
Back in 1995, Chris Cox, GOP congressman and former senior counsel to Ronald Reagan, … read a story about how someone had won a defamation suit against some kinda newfangled “Internet” thingy called Prodigy, a service provider that hosted bulletin boards or something of that nature. At the time, previous court cases had determined that a service provider was not responsible for bulletin-board or message-board postings by users or subscribers (said postings in 1995 were, of course, mainly limited to debates over Captains Kirk vs. Picard). But in the Prodigy case, a court had determined that because Prodigy moderated comments, it was now a publisher by law, and therefore liable for the material it published. The court determined that content moderation is what makes an online platform provider legally liable. If they don’t moderate, they’re not responsible. …
Cox went to hardcore leftist Oregon Demeecrat Ron Wyden and was all like, “Bro, will you help me draft bipartisan legislation that’ll protect this newfangled ‘Internet’ thing from immorality by giving providers total immunity to police bad actors?” And I’d like to think that at this point, Wyden, seeing the gift that was being handed to him by this dumb-ass, began laughing maniacally in Cox’s face. …
So, a bipartisan bill, supported in the Senate by puritanical Nebraskan J. James Exon … emerged — the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996. .. From Cox and Exon’s perspective, the CDA was all about stopping porn. But the very next year, the Supreme Court struck down most of the anti-porn provisions.
So what was left? …
CDA section 230 (c)(2)(A) gives providers of interactive online services complete and total immunity to remove any content they see fit, for whatever reason. As Cox was thinking, “This clause will help promote decency,” Wyden was likely thinking, “This clause will protect leftist orthodoxy from opposing views.”
The left’s holy grail — the total suppression and banishment of ideas they find objectionable. Exactly what we’re seeing now. …
CDA 230 was advocated by Cox because he trusted that moderators would only remove the things that he didn’t like (like porn, and…uh…porn). But Wyden almost certainly envisioned a future in which leftist moderators would remove constitutionally protected political speech…the stuff he wanted banned.
Once again, we got played by the left. And played well. …
In theory, CDA 230 has some merit. People should have the right to police their websites as they see fit. But it’s just plain nutty that the primary federal law dealing with online content removal was written in 1996. I liken it to drafting FAA regulations while the Wright brothers were still testing biplanes. CDA 230 only works if online providers are ideologically neutral, which of course they’re not. In the hands of partisans with an agenda and a monopoly, CDA 230 is downright dangerous.
