Google and Reddit defend tech legal protections ahead of Congress hearing
WASHINGTON: A 23-year-old law giving technology companies legal protection from lawsuits over usergenerated content remains critical to the Internet’s future, Alphabet Inc’s Google unit and social media site Reddit Inc said in testimony.
Senior executives from Google, Reddit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and legal experts are due to face questions on Wednesday in Congress about the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which critics say shields tech companies from dealing with threatening, violent, dangerous or bullying content.
Lawmakers from both major political parties have said Congress could make additional changes to the law to restrict companies’ immunity. Last year, Congress made it easier for prosecutors and sextrafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that kept exploitative material on their platforms.
At issue is Section 230 of the act, which generally provides immunity to online platforms for content posted by users, although companies can still be held liable for content that violates criminal or intellectual property law.
Advocates say the law has helped the rapid growth of Internet companies over the past 20 years and encouraged free expression.
Katherine Oyama, Google’s global head of intellectual property policy, said Section 230 incentivises “action against harmful content” and Google has more than 10,000 people working on content moderation.