I suppose it makes a lot of sense to analogize allowing private companies to control their property with allowing others to obstruct access to not their property.
At least, it makes sense if you choose not to think about it.
1/ Another day, another #Section230 op-ed unmoored from fact and law. This one comes to you via @WilliamLKovacs and @TheHillOpinion. It is a tangle of the usual factual and legal misunderstandings, with a strange new one thrown in for good measure.
2/ Let's talk about this opening paragraph. First, it certainly was *not* a "sneak attack." Twitter has been quite clear that Trump ogot away with things that would get others banned because he was president. If you didn't see this coming, you just weren't paying attention.
3/ The Parler dispute was also not a "sneak attack," and to claim it is strikes me as dishonest. It was a direct response to developing events--you know, the *actual attack* on the Capitol.
The weirdest part about this @wyattemmerich piece isn't the total misunderstanding of #Section230 or the failure to grasp that repealing it wouldn't outlaw content moderation.
It's the part where he claims we were better off when dueling was a thing.
This is incredibly disappointing coming from someone like Geoffrey Stone, who knows perfectly well that the Fairness Doctrine was only constitutional because broadcast spectrum is scarce, and that it could not have applied to cable/internet.
At best this is oversimplification to the point of being misleading.
At worst, it is downright dishonest.
Stone also cites to dicta in Marsh v. Alabama, but doesn't tell readers that private entities are only state actors for First Amendment purposes when they perform functions traditionally & exclusively exercised by the state.
Oh, and that SCOTUS recently rejected this argument.
1/ "I haven't educated myself at all on the details of this, but allow me to stake my point on it anyway" is not exactly the sign of a thoughtful person.
But it *is* a good sign you're about to get a bad #Section230 take.
2/ "Dictatorships, socialism, and communism rely on control of the media, and therefore it is bad that this multitude of private, non-governmental companies have control over their own platforms" is certainly one possible stupid thing you could say.
3/ And then there's this dumb non-sequitur.
Repealing Section 230 would not create new causes of action. If your beef is that social media companies can control what you see and whether you're allowed to post--repealing Section 230 would do absolutely nothing to address that.