President Trump is threatening to veto a crucial military spending bill if it doesn’t include the removal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That’s the law that protects social media companies from lawsuits as long as they act as neutral platforms rather than editors promoting an agenda, a responsibility that most of them treat with as much respect as a puppy shows to your carpeting. But the military bill’s sponsors say Section 230 is not connected to this and shouldn’t be in it, since, as we all know, Congress never inserts unrelated items into large spending bills.
Trump is concerned that if he leaves office, this will be the last chance to force the social media giants to obey the law, since Democrats are benefitting immensely from their illegal politicking. However, the socials could be sailing toward a couple of icebergs they hadn’t anticipated having to dodge.
I told you already about the DOJ lawsuit against Facebook for its alleged illegal hiring practices that discriminate against American applicants in favor of foreign visa holders. Now, the Washington Examiner reports that more than 40 states plan to join an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, seeking that it be broken up to end its monopolistic policies. It’s not yet clear what the focus of the suit will be, but aside from Facebook’s infamous silencing of conservative voices, it also has a history of using its massive cash resources to buy up new start-ups that might become competitors, such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
An interesting side issue is that if more than 40 states plan to join the suit, that means it’s not just Republican states but a lot of blue states, too. Facebook will be facing a bipartisan effort to break it up that is backed by at least 4/5ths of the states. Sounds like a lot of people are ready to unfriend Mark Zuckerberg.
Permalink: https://www.mikehuckabee.com/2020/12/section-230
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