Interconnected TMT

Congress and/or the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may also look at reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. President-elect Donald Trump and Commissioner Brendan Carr have both expressed support for the FCC taking action to limit the scope of Section 230 and the liability protections enjoyed by online platforms and website operators under the statute. In particular, Commissioner Carr has suggested that the FCC’s Section 230 reforms should track the positions outlined in a July 2020 Petition for Rulemaking filed at the FCC by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) near the end of the Trump administration, which proposed extensive limitations on the ability of online platforms to take advantage of the protections of Section 230. More recently, Carr sent a letter to certain “Big Tech” CEOs seeking information about their companies’ use of a certain third-party fact checking organization. Carr’s letter indicates that he has concerns that these Big Tech companies’ use of the service may violate Section 230’s “good faith requirement.” In 2022, Trump released a campaign video suggesting, among other things, that companies should only qualify for such protections if they satisfy “high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination” in making content moderation decisions, and that users over 18 should be permitted to opt out of all content moderation on digital platforms. Commissioner Carr has also proposed that the FCC impose transparency rules such as those applicable to broadband providers—including required disclosures about practices that would shape Internet traffic, like blocking, prioritizing or discriminating against content—to Big Tech online platforms.