US Government Proposes Rolling Back Protections for Big Tech

The U.S. Justice Department proposed on Wednesday that Congress take up legislation to curb protections big tech platforms like Alphabet’s Google and 📘Facebook have had for decades, a senior official said, following through on U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to crack down on tech giants.

The goal of the proposal, which is being finalized, is to push tech companies to address criminal content on their platforms such as child exploitation, terrorism or cyber stalking, and boost transparency for users when the outlets take down lawful material, the senior Justice Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

For it to become law, U.S. lawmakers would need to propose and approve legislation based on the department’s recommendations.

“These reforms are targeted at platforms to make certain they are appropriately addressing illegal and exploitive content while continuing to preserve a vibrant, open, and competitive internet,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.

The president, who has battled 🐦Twitter and other tech companies over alleged censorship of conservative voices on social media platforms, said in late May he would propose legislation to potentially scrap or weaken the law shielding internet companies, in an extraordinary attempt to regulate outlets where he has been criticized.

Trump said he sought to “remove or change” Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which generally exempts platforms from responsibility for what their users post and allows them to moderate the content of their sites as they see fit.

The Justice Department proposal would seek to push platforms to “address” illicit content online, such as material that violates federal criminal law, the department said. It would also seek to require the companies to be upfront about their content moderation decisions and prevent the big online platforms from invoking Section 230 in antitrust cases.