Thread by @BerinSzoka

Live now: State of the Net conference #SOTN, featuring Assistant Attorney General for #antitrust Jonathan Kanter & @B_Fung

stateofthenet.org/sotn-23/

#SOTN #Section230 panel opens with @ma_franks claiming the law protects only against liability for defamation and related claims supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2…

If that were all 230 did, why did Congress spell out things didn't 230 affect completely unrelated to defamation and the like?

@ma_franks .@MA_Franks relies entirely on the "Good Samaritan" heading for 230(c) to argue that (c)(1) must require good faith efforts to block content. If Congress had intended to make (c)(1) immunity contingent on good faith, it would have said so, as it did in (c)(2)(A)

#SOTN

Typical nonsense from @JoelThayer, claiming that overly broad interpretations of #Section230 (c)(1) are to blame for "censoring" conservatives

Nope. That would be... the First Amendment

#SOTN

And no, Congress can't just declare platforms to be public accommodations to stop them from being mean to MAGA nutters because, yup, again, the First Amendment

@AriCohn & I cut through this 💩 when Justice Thomas started making it up
lawfareblog.com/justice-thomas…

#SOTN

@AriCohn Remember, there was a vacancy at the FCC for @SimingtonFCC only because Trump refused to renominate @MPORielly after he dared to suggest to restate longstanding Republican opposition to "fairness doctrine" regulation of media (which Republicans now want for "Big Tech")

#SOTN

@AriCohn @SimingtonFCC @MPORielly Do we not have de facto net neutrality at this moment [even without Title II]?
- @SimingtonFCC

Yup. It's what @BinaryBits called "The Durable Internet" back in 2008 cato.org/policy-analysi…

#SOTN

@AriCohn @SimingtonFCC @MPORielly @binarybits Does the FCC have the authority to regulate Big Tech?

@SimingtonFCC thinks 2020 blog post by FCC GC Tom Johnson resolved this issue fcc.gov/news-events/bl…

But even if the FCC can issue an interpretive 230 rule, the real question is what deference courts will give it...

#SOTN

@AriCohn @SimingtonFCC @MPORielly @binarybits SCOTUS is increasingly unwilling to defer to agency interpretations of statutes that claim power to decide major questions, eg online speech: "[We] expect Congress to speak clearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of vast economic and political significance."

#SOTN

Speech is nuanced
Speech is complicated
Speech is the anthesis of scalability
- @TechEthicist 👏

#SOTN

Lots of talk about transparency for content moderation at #SOTN2023 #SOTN

The 11th Circuit upheld Florida's transparency mandate. As @TechFreedom's amicus brief explained, that mandate unconstitutionally entangles the state in content moderation

supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/2…

@TechFreedom Travis LeBlanc on the EU Court of Justice striking down repeated US/EU data flow agreements: Data protectionism may be masquerading as data protection

#SOTN