Publication Date
Summer 2022
Abstract
Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code, colloquially known as Section 230, is hailed by many as the law that created the internet. It was conceived to promote the growth of the internet by protecting internet platforms from liability for third-party speech that was out of their control. However, while the internet has changed and grown more intrusive in everyday life, Section 230 has not grown to reflect that. It has been broadened in a way that allows internet platforms to escape liability. People are not generally able to hold internet platforms accountable for harms that were facilitated or caused by the internet platforms. At the same time, laws created to abrogate Section 230’s powers have been disastrous to both internet platforms and people who use them. Section 230 has proven itself essential to protecting internet speech. While it is still an important and necessary law, it sorely needs to “get with the times.” This Note discusses Section 230’s scope and how it can be used to protect internet platforms as well as people.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Sarah Lamden and Annie Seifullah for stoking my interest in data privacy and internet safety.
Recommended Citation
Val Rigodon, Death by a Thousand Duck Bites in a No-Man's Land: Navigating Section 230's Scope and Impact in a Changing Internet and World, 25 CUNY. L. Rev. 311 (2022).