Sen. Marsha Blackburn, (R-Tenn.) is joining the Republican-led fight to change internet regulations that she said allow social media platforms to "disadvantage conservative thought."
The senator is getting behind an effort to reform Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects online services from legal liability for what users publish on their platforms.
"We are working on legislation that would address reforms that would put a threshold in place," she said. "Users that are 50 million and less, you would have Section 230 protections. The bigger users would not have those safe harbors."
Blackburn framed the reforms as an effort to stop censorship of conservative voices.
"They suggestively manipulate their algorithms," she alleged of social media platforms. "You look at what's happening on YouTube, and it's the wild west. You can put up anything, say anything, and it's there, except when it comes to conservatives. Conservative filmmakers, conservative entertainers, people in Christian music have had their movie trailers, their videos, their songs removed from some of these platforms."
Democrats have argued that removing this protection will have the opposite effect, leading to more censorship and legal complications for online service providers.
The Trump administration has signaled its support for overhauling the legislation as well. On May 28, the president issued an executive order ordering the Commerce Department to petition the Federal Communications Commission to refine the current regulations. The Justice Department has since urged Congress to revise Section 230.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would, among other things, allow users to sue an online platform for $5,000 plus attorneys' fees if they feel the provider is not "operating in good faith" and unfairly applying their respective content rules.
"If they want to say they're the public square, where people have free speech and public debate, you can't do that," Blackburn said.
She added that current regulations' lack of clarity has led to abuses.
"The definitions in 230 are overly broad," she claimed. "Things that are abusive or unlawful, we need to be more specific in those definitions. We need to also say that political speech is free speech.
Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Although this week's weather is predicted to be less severe than the 2021 storm, Texans are preparing for the worst - stocking up on supplies and emptying shelves in grocery stores, once again. Some Texans still have not recovered from last year's tragedy, and are heading into the next few weeks with anxiety for what's to come. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Houston-based energy workforce & technology council, joins Cheddar News to discuss if the Texas grid will fail again.
Student loan debt continues to be a major concern for tens of millions of Americans who collectively owe about $1.7 trillion. Black college students often take on larger amounts of student debt in order to pay for a higher education. In turn, they are more likely to struggle post-graduation with repaying their debt, creating a racial wealth gap divide. Andre Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Institution joined All Hands to help break down the black student debt crisis.
After two NYPD officers were killed with an illegal gun, President Biden made a trip to New York City to speak on the issue of gun violence fed by the "iron pipeline" of illegal firearms that make their way from the South to the Big Apple. Kris Brown, the president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady United, joined Cheddar to discuss what this visit from the president could mean for the future of gun laws in America. "He's asked Congress to pass things like expanding the Brady background check system, but with the filibuster a barrier to so much action right now in the Congress, he's looking at solutions that involve funding at the federal level and really involve enforcement."
