Three decades ago, in the fledgling days of the internet, Congress amended Section V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to grant broader legal protections to websites who host information from third-parties. Part of Section 230 of that law (known as the Communications Decency Act) has been referred to as “the 26 words that created the internet,” due to the burgeoning effect it had on online content as internet companies were protected from lawsuits. Two current Supreme Court cases—Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh—ask whether algorithms created by companies like Google or Twitter, which might promote and recommend terroristic or other harmful material, result in the companies being held liable for aiding and abetting the terrorists; or whether, as in the Google case, Section 230 applies to grant immunity to the platforms. In this episode, guests Mary Anne Franks of the University of Miami School of Law and Kate Klonick of St. John’s University of Law School break down the arguments in each case before the court. They also discuss the history and purpose of Section 230, why Congress enacted it, and how it’s been interpreted over the years. They also look forward to how this case could impact platforms like Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter and the future of the Internet itself. Host Jeffrey Rosen moderates.
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Today’s show was produced by Lana Ulrich, Bill Pollock and Julia Redpath. It was engineered by Greg Scheckler. Research was provided by Adam Jackman, Sam Desai, and Lana Ulrich.
Participants
Mary Anne Franks is the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair and Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law, and President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating online abuse and discrimination. She is also an Affiliated Faculty member of the University of Miami Department of Philosophy and an Affiliate Fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project (ISP). Dr. Franks is the author of the award-winning book, The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford Press, 2019). She filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiff in the Gonzalez v. Google case.
Kate Klonick is associate professor of law at St. John’s University of Law School. She is an affiliated fellow at the Yale Law School Information Society Project and a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is currently on leave for 2022-2023 serving as a Visiting Scholar at the Rebooting Social Media Institute at Harvard University. She joined an amicus brief in Gonzalez v. Google supporting the respondent Google.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- 47 U.S. Code § 230: Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material (Section 230)
- Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act
- Mary Anne Franks, Brief of the Amici Curiae the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and Legal Scholars in Support of Petitioners, Gonzalez v. Google
- Eugene Volokh, Kate Klonick et al., Brief of Internet Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent, Gonzalez v. Google
- Oral argument in Gonzalez v. Google, hosted by C-SPAN (transcript here)
- Oral argument in Twitter v. Taamneh, hosted by C-SPAN (transcript here)
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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