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On February 8th, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act, a sweeping regulatory framework for the internet. Almost all of the CDA was found unconstitutional, but what remained allowed the nascent web to flourish. It’s called Section 230 — and for the past quarter-century, it’s shaped the internet for better and worse.
Section 230 protects any owner or user of an “interactive computer service” — typically an app or website — from liability for content that someone else posted. Over the past few years, it’s drawn the ire of conservative politicians who want to punish “Big Tech” for banning users, but also lawmakers and activists who say it lets web services knowingly allow harassment, nonconsensual sexual imagery, and other illegal material. Congress has introduced several major reform proposals, and at least one will likely advance in the near future.