Senior executives from Google, Reddit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and legal experts are due to face questions on Wednesday in Congress about the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which critics say shields tech companies from dealing with threatening, violent, dangerous or bullying content. Lawmakers from both major political parties have said Congress could make additional changes to the law to restrict companies’ immunity. Advocates say the law has helped the rapid growth of internet companies over the past 20 years and encouraged free expression. Katherine Oyama, Google’s global head of intellectual property policy, said Section 230 incentivizes “action against harmful content” and Google has more than 10,000 people working on content moderation. Google, Reddit defend tech legal protections ahead of Congress hearing https://t.co/1l7tfLqRmS pic.twitter.com/Ec8J49xJHP — Jairo Rodriguez (@RealtorJairo) October 15, 2019The US House Energy and Commerce committee released written testimonies ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, which is titled “Fostering a Healthier Internet to Protect Consumers.”Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said Section 230 has incentivized “good faith attempts to mitigate the unavoidable downsides of free expression.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 15, 2019 23:37 UTC