Hi everyone welcome to the A6 and see podcast I'm sonel and I'm sharing our special

episode on all things section 230 of the Communications Decency Act CDA in what

wired a senior writer there specifically, described as, quote, one of the clearest but still nuanced explainers I've heard and is worth listening to.

It was originally published last May on our show 16 minutes, which you can subscribe to if you haven't already, in the context of previous protests and presidential tweets, and an executive order then to prevent quote online censorship

but is exactly as relevant today perhaps now more than ever and our expert guest

is Mike Masnick, founder and

editor and chief of Tech Dirt, who has long

covered these and related issues.

We also discuss how does this law play out

against broader questions and debates

around platforms and content moderation, but we begin with explaining

Section 230 of the 1996 Act, which makes sure that interactive websites are not liable for

their users content.

Precisely what does and doesn't it say,

given lots of confusion out there.

The law is actually very short and very simple

and very straightforward.

And I should note that the Communications Decency Act itself did have many more things that it did,

but all of that was determined to be unconstitutional.

So the only thing that survives is Section 230.

There was a big lawsuit, ACLU versus... the only thing that survives is section 230.

There was a big lawsuit,

...