[Baltimore Sun] Debate over online censorship heats up in Washington
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A still unsettled question in Washington is, to what extent should the government regulate social media?
During last week’s vice presidential debate, both candidates weighed in on the question during a discussion about censorship.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, said, “You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater. That’s the test. That’s the Supreme Court test.”
Republican JD Vance fired back, “Tim, fire in a crowded theater. You guys wanted to kick people off of Facebook for saying that toddlers should not wear masks.”
Some critics compare the internet to the Wild West, with no laws and the ability for terror attacks to be quickly planned, for children to be easily targeted and for misinformation to spread like wildfire.
In an interview with CNN, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a repeal of Section 230, which gives online platforms immunity from speech that’s posted on their sites.
Clinton suggested Congress should pass laws that promote regulation.
“If the platforms—whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, X, or Instagram, or TikTok, whatever they are — if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control. And it’s not just the social and psychological effects; it’s real harm, it’s, you know, child porn and threats of violence, things that are terribly dangerous,” she said.
Online free speech advocates say government control is precisely what the First Amendment was designed to protect against.
So far, Congress has only passed one law attempting to rein in a Big Tech company.
It requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest or face a ban in the United States.
The Kids Online Safety Act passed 91-3 in the Senate but still has yet to pass the House, with questions about censorship and presidential candidates dominating some social media sites.
In an interview with media personality Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk predicted Kamala Harris would take action against his platform, X.
“If she wins — how can they let X continue in its current form, in its current role in American society?” Carlson asked the chairman and owner of X.
“They won’t. They will try to shut it down by any means possible,” Musk replied.
Despite Musk’s statement, there is no evidence Kamala Harris would take any such action, or even could.
Any new laws regarding rules for or regulation of Big Tech companies would have to be passed by Congress.
Content from The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.
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