Industry Behavior Highlights Tech’s Insincerity In Tackling Harmful Content |
In an effort to stave off pending U.S. regulation, the tech industry....


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Tech & Terrorism: Tech Giants Oppose Measure Strengthening Regulation Of
Online Child Sex Abuse

Industry Behavior Highlights Tech’s Insincerity In Tackling Harmful Content

(New York, N.Y.) – In an effort to stave off pending U.S. regulation, the tech
industry has opposed widely-supported bi-partisan U.S. legislation—the
Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN
IT Act)—that would help mitigate the prevalence of child sexual abuse material
online. The obstinate position is evidenced by the tech industry’s extensive
lobbying campaign <[link removed]>
centered around protecting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA),
which provides tech with blanket liability protection from content posted by
third parties on their platform. Tech’s behavior underscores the troubling, and
expensive, lengths tech companies are going to in order to oppose meaningful
regulations that aim to make the Internet a safer place for all.

 

In a recent Wired
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op-ed, Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Advisor Dr. Hany Farid described
the current state of the Internet and what the EARN IT Act intends to achieve.
The EARN IT Act would be an important step towards breaking down Section 230
blanket immunity in a narrow, but crucial way. By opening the door for states
to hold tech companies accountable for child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
online, it breaks a decade-long cycle of obstructionism by the industry to
reform.

 

“Frustratingly, for the past decade, the technology sector has been largely
obstructionist and full of naysayers when it comes to deploying new
technologies to protect us. As a result of this deliberate neglect, the
internet is overrun with child sexual abuse material, illegal sex trade,
nonconsensual pornography, hate and terrorism, illegal drugs, illegal weapons,
and rampant misinformation designed to sow civil unrest and interfere with
democratic elections … In its amended form the Act leans into the skepticism of
Section 230 and takes the needed step of fully removing blanket immunity from
federal civil, state criminal, and state civil CSAM laws. In so doing,
technology platforms will be treated like other entities when it comes to
combating child sexual exploitation.”

 

CEP has repeatedly called upon
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Facebook and others in the tech industry to cease all lobbying against
potential government regulation, particularly around Section 230 reform, that
is needed to curb the spread of dangerous content online—including extremist
and terrorist content. However, instead of following through on its manypolicy
change promises
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to act as responsible stewards of the Internet, Facebook has only increased
their spending on efforts to thwart regulatory measures. Last year, Facebook
spent
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nearly $17 million on federal lobbying—more than any other company. Over the
past decade, the tech industry has spent nearlyhalf a billion dollars
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in lobbying.

 

Dr. Farid continues his op-ed, stating that although Section 230 has allowed
tech companies to flourish to where they are today, leaving it as-is would have
pernicious effects on the public and perpetuate a perverse cycle in which
profits are placed over people.

 

“Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act established that—with only
a few exceptions—interactive computer services (e.g., Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube) are not liable for user-generated content. This act has given Silicon
Valley an unprecedented gift in the form of a broad shield from accountability.
Rather than acting as responsible ‘Good Samaritans’ as Section 230’s drafters
intended, technology companies have allowed for their services to be weaponized
against children, civil society, and democracy, all the while profiting
annually to the tune of billions of dollars … The titans of tech continue to
prioritize profits over our safety. It is time for the government to step in
and regulate the industry and begin to mitigate the unspeakable harm being
perpetrated on our children. The EARN IT Act is a reasonable and sensible first
step in this direction.”

 

To read Dr. Hany Farid’s op-ed in Wired, please click here
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.

 

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