The law from 1996 is at the heart of a pair of important Supreme Court cases. Here's a brief explainer.
that search engines, large social media services, e-commerce sites, and even small blogs that host comment sections aren’t liable for content that users post—though there are exceptions for things like illegal content and content that violates intellectual property law. The courts have also ruled that platforms have broad rights to remove whatever content they like, which isThis law has very important ramifications for how websites have been able to operate over the past 26 years.
The law means that not only are websites and social networks off the hook from any potential civil settlements for any harm that comes to a plaintiff from user-generated content these platforms host, but they can get out of any lawsuit early without having to defend against the specifics of the claim.
As Cope explains, without Section 230, “Platforms would have to defend themselves all the way to the very end of a case that might take several years… and then there could be multiple appeals that cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.”Section 230 is often described as a “liability shield,” and really, that’s why tech companies like it.
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