In Which We Warn The Wisconsin Supreme Court Not To Destroy Section 230

In Which We Warn The Wisconsin Supreme Court Not To Destroy Section 230

5 years ago
Anonymous $Dftgs0JzgE

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190117/17202441416/which-we-warn-wisconsin-supreme-court-not-to-destroy-section-230.shtml

One of the ideas that we keep trying to drive home is that the Internet works only because Section 230 has allowed it to work. Mess with Section 230, and you mess with the Internet. FOSTA messed with it statutorily, but it isn't just Congress that can undermine all the speech and services that depend on Section 230's protection for the platforms that enable them. Courts can mess with it too.

While it's bad enough when courts get questions of whether Section 230 applies wrong at the trial court level, the higher the court, the more potentially destructive the decision if the court decides to curtail its protection. On the other hand, the higher the court, the more durable Section 230's protective language becomes when the decision gets it right. This post is about one of those cases where the future utility of Section 230 hangs in the balance, and where we hope that the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the highest court in the state, gets it right and finds it applies to the platform being sued -- and therefore all other platforms that depend on its protection.