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Ajit Pai is now saying the FCC will not look at Section 230 while also criticizing Trump

Section 230 gives social websites immunity from lawsuits over user-generated content.

by
Deep Ballu
January 12, 2021

Image: KnowTechie

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In October 2020, Ajit Pai, the current head of FCC, revealed that he plans to further “clarify” Section 230, which covers, in part, free speech on the internet. Even President Trump showed immense interest and pushed the FCC to “clarify” Section 230.

However, it appears that Ajit Pai had a change of heart, and he doesn’t plan to deal with Section 230 anymore. In an interview for Protocol, he said that there isn’t enough time to complete the needed administrative steps to make any changes to Section 230 before leaving office.

Section 230 gives social websites such as Facebook and Twitter immunity from lawsuits over user-generated content. Section 230 was initially drafted and then successfully passed by the US congress. Because of that, experts such as Kate Ruane, senior legislative counsel at ACLU, claimed that the FCC president couldn’t make any changes to Section 230 even if he wanted to. Therefore, Pai’s plans to “clarify” Section 230 were pointless to begin with.

In his going away interview, Pai also said that he would not question Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook’s decision to ban Donald Trump from their respective platforms. Then he criticized President Trump for his questioning of the election results, particularly the President’s action in light of the recent US Capitol riots.

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