America's Communications Decency Act under new threat

Oped Published on July 19, 2021 Section 230 of America’s Communications Decency Act, from the 1990s, is under a new threat. That section is controversial because, while it protects tech companies that are “platforms” from being liable from what others post, it has been stretched in recent years so that those companies now claim immunity even though they essential act as publishers and control what appears. In recent weeks, the companies even have been shown to be working directly with Washington, and following its instructions on what to censor, essentially becoming an extension of the government. Now the issue of that immunity has been opened up wide, with a decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out a panel decision upholding a lower court decision that affirmed those protections. It came in a case by Church United and Pastor Jim Domen. They sued Vimeo, a video platform, in January 2019 after the company censored content by terminating the church’s account. The video platform unleashed charges that Church United was violating its terms of service by featuring “five videos of men and women who left the LGBT lifestyle to pursue their Christian faith,” according to a legal…
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