Lawmakers Seek To Hold Facebook Accountable For Harmful Content

These days, it’s hard to find an issue that unites both sides of the political aisle. However, eliminating legal protections for Facebook is one of them. The latest such challenge came this week when two senators introduced legislation that would hold social media companies like Facebook accountable for user content.

The proposed law, called the Health Misinformation Act, would carve out an exception in the controversial Section 230 law that shields Facebook from liability. The legislation would remove the protection for platforms that promote health misinformation.

“Earlier this year, I called on Facebook… to remove accounts that are responsible for producing the majority of misinformation about the coronavirus, but we need a long-term solution,” Senator Amy Klobuchar said in a statement. “This legislation will hold online platforms accountable for the spread of health-related misinformation. The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how lethal misinformation can be and it is our responsibility to take action.”

While this seems dramatic, many lawmakers — including former president Donald Trump —want to go even further and remove all liability protections altogether. That could be hard to accomplish, but the fact that politicians of all stripes want to come after Facebook is a bad sign for the social media giant.




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