markup language ( HTML ) was invented , there were really only two big “ castles ” on the internet : CompuServe and AOL . My old friend and business partner Nigel Peacock and I ran forums on CompuServe starting around 1980 , right up until 1996 .
We ran the IBM PC Forum , the Macintosh Forum , and about two-dozen other “ places ” where people interested in ADHD , desktop publishing , UFOs , the Kennedy assassination , international trade , and a bunch of other topics were discussed . CompuServe paid us well ( as much as $ 20,000 / month ), because we had to make sure nothing criminal happened in any of the forums we ran . And we split that revenue with the 20 or so people who worked with us as Sysops .
We kept the online places open and safe . After all , it was CompuServe ’ s “ castle ” and they were paying us big bucks to make sure nothing illegal happened inside it .
Until just after 1996 , when they decided they didn ’ t any longer have to pay to keep the “ buildings ” safe and crime-free . Shortly after Section 230 went into law , CompuServe stopped paying us for the work we did and most of their moderators simply drifted away , some replaced by communityminded volunteers like those who today run “ groups ” on Facebook . The impact of Section 230 is obvious today . Facebook is now so powerful and its impact so far-flung that it literally helped cause a mass slaughter , a race-based genocide , in Myanmar / Burma .
Zuckerberg , our country ’ s richest millennial who owns 2 percent of all millennial wealth in America , had a secret dinner with Donald Trump during the Trump presidency , and held multiple meetings with rightwing politicians , reporters , op-ed writers , and influencers , according to Politico . I can find no record of him having similar private dinners with either Obama or Biden , nor with any groups of progressive journalists , writers , politicians , or influencers .
Numerous sources identify Facebook as one of the major hubs of organizing for rightwing events including January 6th , the rise of QAnon , and the contemporary militia and white supremacist Nazi movements .
The criminals can go to jail , but the people who own the Internet “ castles ” where the transactions take place are almost entirely immune .
In 1997 , in the case Zeran v . America Online , the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Section 230 is written so tightly that even when an online service is knowingly allowing law-breaking , they can ’ t be held accountable .
Since then , a few exceptions have been “ found ” by courts , including copyright violations , human trafficking , and instances when the owner of the online “ castle ” encouraged people there to conduct illegal activity .
But beyond those few extreme gotchas , it ’ s still the wild , wild West out there on the Internet .
Section 230 lives on . I wrote a book that covers it , The Hidden History of Big Brother : How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy .
So did Josh Hawley , the Republican senator from Missouri who hopes to be the next Trumpy president , and his book ’ s take is pretty much the same as mine : Section 230 is extremely problematic , at the very least .
Fixing or simply voiding Section 230 is a place where internet-savvy liberals like Amy Klobuchar and far-right conservatives like Hawley and Graham can find considerable common ground .
It won ’ t be super-easy and is going to require some serious discussion and debate about the limits of both surveillance and liability , as the Electronic Freedom Foundation points out in a recent piece about the newest attempt to “ protect children ” on the Internet .
A new study published just this week found over 33 million examples of content harmful to children scattered across social media just last month . This content is apparently not anything they want to regulate or completely do away with , either because they don ’ t want to pay to deal with it or because it generates so much revenue for them ( or both ).
And the social media companies , raking in billions in profits , have so far stymied all efforts to do away with Section 230 or regulate their behavior by taking advantage of the Supreme Court ’ s legalization of political bribery : Silicon Valley is one of the larger players in the lobbying and campaign contributions game .
Nonetheless , something must be done about these cyberspace “ castles ,” especially given the demonstrable harm Section 230 is allowing to happen to both our kids and our democracy .
If Zuckerberg and his peers have to start hiring people to do what Nigel and I did for CompuServe years ago , it may reduce their income from tens of billions to mere billions . But society will be the better for it , our political landscape will stabilize , and fewer children will die .
I ’ d argue that ’ s a tradeoff that ’ s well worth making . If you agree , call your members of Congress at 202-224-3121 and let them know you believe it ’ s time to consign Section 230 to the trash heap of history and begin to hold accountable and regulate these toxic behemoths .
Zuckerberg , our country ’ s richest millennial who owns 2 percent of all millennial wealth in America , had a secret dinner with Donald Trump during the Trump presidency , and held multiple meetings with rightwing politicians , reporters , op-ed writers , and influencers , according to Politico . I can find no record of him having similar private dinners with either Obama or Biden , nor with any groups of progressive journalists , writers , politicians , or influencers .
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