Supreme Court decision on Section 230 could adversely affect Reddit

The Supreme Court announced it would entertain arguments February 21 and 22 about content moderation on social media. It will later consider First Amendment issues raised by Texas and Florida laws that restrict social media companies. The February arguments will address whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act enacted to spare platforms from liability for third-party content is still a viable protection given the way they have used Section 230 to protect themselves in the era of profitable controversial postings and cultural wars. (Brookings Institute, January 31, 2023, by Tom Wheeler)

A Supreme Court ruling on Section 230 could be made to change their ways of content moderation and platform architectures. But it could also adversely affect sites that allow users to edit, remove or promote other users’ content. Users could be liable for their content decisions making it difficult for Wikipedia and Reddit. (MIT Technology Review, February 1, 2023, by Tate Ryan-Mosley)

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