Hillary Clinton says tech companies should be stripped of legal immunity

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued Thursday that big technology companies should not have broad legal immunity under Section 230 for content posted on their websites.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act broadly protects social media platforms from being sued over what people post on their sites. But Clinton said those broad protections no longer make sense.

“They were granted this impunity in the late ’90s for very good reasons. [when] “We didn’t know what was going to happen,” Clinton said, adding: “No one really knew what was going on, so no one knew anything.”

“Well, I do now. I’m embarrassed that I still sit and talk about it,” she continued. “Section 230 must be repealed. We need a different system for technology companies to operate. And we’re obviously mostly talking about social media platforms.”

Instead, Clinton suggested the United States should “come up with an appropriate form of liability” for tech companies.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have previously expressed interest in rescinding protections granted under Section 230.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) teamed up last May to expose tech companies to legal liability for child pornography posted on their sites. The bill was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But legislation to increase transparency and strengthen the obligation to protect children suffering from abuse and abuse has remained in limbo for months.

Hawley tried to move the bill to the Senate floor in early February for unanimous consent to consider and approve it, but Sen. Ron Wyden argued that it would weaken encryption safeguards. (D-Ore.) blocked this push. Introducing popular websites and apps.