Rep. Dan Crenshaw Preparing Bill to Remove Section 230 Immunity For Online Political Discrimination
Richard Moorhead
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Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw revealed he’s finalizing a law that would strip Section 230 protections from Big Tech monopolies engaged in acts of political discrimination, a potential regulatory solution to internet censorship that conservatives have been made the victim of for several years. The Houston-area Representative and Navy SEAL veteran announced he was drafting the law in an Instagram post on Sunday.
The legislation, yet to be formally named, would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to create exceptions to Section 230 protections. The amendment would also limit immunity for actions that discriminated on a sexual, ethnic or racial basis, allowing a wide range of internet users to litigate against Big Tech oligarchs who discriminate against user-created content.
Crenshaw’s law also expressly applies to corporations that collect more than $3 billion a year in annual revenue, ensuring that small websites, such as alternative news and media organizations distinct from Big Tech monopolies, keep their Section 230 protections.
Crenshaw, a Republican with ultra-hawkish foreign policy views distinct from the America First platform of Donald Trump, is known for a controversial relationship with activist conservatives and populists within the Republican Party. In his Instagram post announcing the legislation, Crenshaw identified his legislation as a real prescient solution for the erosion of political freedom on the internet, contrasting it with he assailed as empty rhetoric and performative bluster on the part of some Republicans on the issue.
Another facet of the legislation would bar the throttling and blocking of lawful content on the part of Big Tech companies.
“Some of us in Congress actually put in the hard work to fix social media political censorship, doing the in-depth policy and legal research required to craft good legislation,“said Crenshaw of what he likens to empty political theater.
“Others just hurl petty insults to get your attention, and then tell you they “fight” for you.”
Crenshaw’s legislation would seemingly avert the pitfall of repealing Section 230 altogether, an act that some internet freedom advocates have warned could have even more chilling repercussions on free speech online and enable existing megacorporations such as Facebook to police political speech in an even more draconian fashion.
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