A Case Where The Courts Got Section 230 Right Because It Turns Out Section 230 Is Not Really All That Hard

A Case Where The Courts Got Section 230 Right Because It Turns Out Section 230 Is Not Really All That Hard

4 years ago
Anonymous $qOHwDUKgAF

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200720/09205544934/case-where-courts-got-section-230-right-because-it-turns-out-section-230-is-not-really-all-that-hard.shtml

Having just criticized the Second Circuit for getting Section 230 (among other things) very wrong, it's worth pointing out an occasion where it got it very right. The decision in Force v. Facebook came out last year, but the Supreme Court recently denied any further review, so it's still ripe to talk about how this case could, and should, bear on future Section 230 litigation.

It is a notable decision, not just in terms of its result upholding Section 230 but in how it cut through much of the confusion that tends to plague discussion regarding Section 230. It brought the focus back to the essential question at the heart of the statute: who imbued the content at issue with its allegedly wrongful quality? That question is really is the only thing that matters when it comes to figuring out whether Section 230 applies.