What is Section 230?

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2020

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, Twitter added a fact-check message to President Trump's tweets about voter fraud and vote by mail, and a notice that one of his tweets about recent protests violated Twitter’s policy against glorifying violence. In response to the fact-check, the President signed an executive order aimed at limiting the legal protections given to online platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This episode explores Section 230—what does it say and how has it influenced speech online?—and the potential consequences of the executive order. It also takes a broader look at content regulation on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms, and how that squares with First Amendment values. Host Jeffrey Rosen was joined by digital speech experts Professor Kate Klonick and David French. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:09.0	The National Constitution
0:17.0	among the American people.
0:21.0	As all Americans confront the tragic events of the past weeks, I want to take a moment to thank you, dear We The People listeners, for educating yourselves about the Constitution.
0:33.3	It is central to the National Constitution Center's mission
0:37.2	to convene discussions about the difficult constitutional issues facing our nation so that we can learn together in order to form a more
0:46.8	perfect union.
0:49.0	On Friday, June 5th at noon, at noon, Eastern Time,
0:53.4	we will host a national town hall discussion
0:56.8	about policing, protests, and the Constitution.
1:00.6	We'll begin with a keynote conversation with former Chief Judge Theodore McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
1:08.0	If you're hearing this in time, you can register to join the Zoom conversation live at Constitution Center.org
1:14.6	forward slash debate or you can find the program on YouTube or on our
1:19.6	podcasts. broadcasts. Last week, Twitter added a fact-check message to President Trump's tweets about vote by mail,
1:36.0	and a notice that his tweets about recent protests violated Twitter's policy against glorifying violence.
1:43.0	In response to the fact check notice, the President signed an executive order aimed at changing the liability status of online platforms for third party content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
1:57.2	On today's episode of We the People, we explore Section 230 and the potential consequences of the executive order for the future of online free speech
2:06.4	in these challenging times.
2:09.3	I'm joined by two of America's leading experts on digital free speech.
2:13.8	Kate Kwanick is assistant professor of law
2:16.2	at St. John's School of Law
2:18.9	and an affiliated fellow at the Yale Law School
	...

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