EPIC to Congress: Reform Section 230

In a statement to the Senate Commerce Committee, EPIC supported reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The Committee is considering the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Consumer Trasparency (PACT) Act, which requires online platforms to give notice of their content moderation policies and to make a complaint system available, and sets deadlines by which platforms must process complaints. EPIC urged the Committee to expand the Act’s provisions on injunctive relief, which currently only requires platforms to take down content if ordered by a court to do so in limited types of cases. “When a court finds that content has been posted illegally or in violation of an individual’s rights, there should be a legal mechanism to order online platforms to remove that content,” EPIC said. “The bill should be amended to make clear that platforms must comply with court orders to remove content deemed unlawful regardless of the type of legal claim involved.” In an amicus brief in Herrick v. Grindr, EPIC objected to a court decision that found “online platforms bear no responsibility for the harassment and abuse their systems enable.”