1-Just before last week’s @EnergyCommerce hearing with big tech CEOs, Reps @Malinowski & @RepAnnaEshoo released a revised version of their bill amending #section230, the “Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act”

https://bit.ly/39R2RpE 

2- #Section230 is not a privacy or data protection law. It’s a LIABAILITY law. Debates about it have a tendency of taking on the flavor of everything people are increasingly frustrated about when it comes to tech & society. But this is one very limited piece of the puzzle.

3- Amidst a flurry of proposals for what to do about the oft cited liability rule, it’s worth looking at the vastly different approaches to fixing different problems we’re seeing in the more than two dozen proposals currently floating around Congress

4-Reform proposals span the gamut. Some completely gut #section230, others carve out categories of liability, many focus on defining “good or bad” content, & others focus on the technical workings of platforms. The @Malinowski @RepAnnaEshoo bill fits in the 2nd & 4th categories

5-In their own words, their bill focused on algorithmic amplification “...establishes the principle that platforms should be accountable for content they proactively promote, if doing so leads to specific offline violence.”

6-The bill’s focus on platform infrastructure rather than specific content is a helpful approach. When models can invisibly drive public discourse, they warrant examination and consideration

7-Interestingly the bill removes liability protections for platforms with more than 10 million users in cases tried using older statues first created to target Ku Klux Klan conspirators and international terrorism- a reminder that old laws can be made relevant for our digital era

8-Many more proposals have been floated to address issues ranging from cyber insecurity, disinformation, foreign interference, transparency, to competition. We’ve barely scratched the privacy & data control surface in our leg debates—something that underpins much of our tech woes

9-The U.S. is behind the curve in defining power and accountability online, with the #EU, #China, #India, #Australia all more forcefully and clearly defining the rules for the digital world. The regulatory conversation in Congress is a foreign policy conversation, and it’s urgent