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.
The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health on Wednesday over a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Jimmy Hoover, the Supreme Court editor-at-large for Law360, joined Cheddar to break down the momentous legal fight. "This is the biggest abortion case at the Supreme Court in 30 years," he said. "It is a … a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade."
Matt Peron, Director of Research at Janus Henderson Investors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he breaks down the factors leading to today's market slide and says there's more to it than Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments about speeding up tapering efforts.
Walmart CEO Dough McMillon praised the Biden administration's efforts to ease supply chain constraints after the company saw a 26 percent jump in shipments over the last month. President Joe Biden had announced back in October that California ports would operate on a 24/7 basis.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments with the Omicron variant that are spooking markets once again. Twitter's @Jack is leaving, SCOTUS takes up abortion rights and the world has a brand new republic.
The Biden Administration is set to buy 10 million courses of Pfizer's Covid pill if it gains emergency use authorization from the FDA. With this purchase, the U.S. will receive more than 13 million courses of antiviral pills aimed at treating Covid and reducing severe illness and death. Pfizer's pill has been shown to reduce risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent, proving it could be a key tool in the fight against the pandemic. Dr. Soumi Eachempati, Co-Founder, CEO & CMO of Cleared4, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
The Build Back Better Act has been at the center of endless negotiations and debate, ultimately landing as a nearly $1.8 trillion plan. One of the highlights is $170 billion dollars for affordable housing, making history as the largest investment in the sector to date. Eliza Collins, politics reporter for The Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News to break down the bill.
The Biden Administration is releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the U.S. oil reserves in hopes of easing soaring gas prices. Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Global Energy and Climate Innovation Editor at the Economist, joined Cheddar to discuss.
