House GOP Tech Bills Would Harm Innovation and Set Terrible Precedent
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House Republicans introduced several bills today aimed at increasing regulation of social media companies. One of the bills, sponsored by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Cathy McMorris-Rogers (R-WA), would curtail Section 230 protections from certain large technology companies.
Director of CEI’s Center for Technology and Innovation Jessica Melugin said:
“Decades of leftist dominance in schools, entertainment and news media have many on the right worried they’re on the losing side of a culture war. Conservatives are feeling shut out of ‘woke’ boardrooms, under threat of cancel culture and discriminated against on the biggest social media platforms. Some politicians are betting that this panic overrides their base’s traditional allegiances to property rights and limited government, hence Republican-sponsored legislation aimed at greatly expanding regulation online.
“Conservatives who turn their backs on private property rights in social media disputes over bias will render themselves defenseless against leftist resistance to property rights in other policy debates. Such yielding on core principles make for immediate political points, but it makes expanding liberty far more difficult in the future.”
Read more:
- Melugin: Preserving Section 230 Is Key to Maintaining the Free and Open Internet
- Murray for National Review: The Answer to Our Big Tech Problem Is Decentralization