Biden's Commerce Nominee Backs Changes To Section 230

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: In a hearing on her nomination for Commerce Department secretary on Tuesday, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo told lawmakers that she will pursue changes to Section 230 if confirmed. Responding to questions posed by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Raimondo said that she would use the tools available through the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to convene stakeholders, industry leaders, lawmakers and others to identify the means of reform to the pivotal internet law.

'I think platform accountability is important because I've seen in my own state that misinformation hurts people,' Raimondo said. 'But of course, that reform would have to be balanced against the fact that these businesses rely upon user-generated content for their innovation, and they've created many thousands of jobs.' It's unclear how the Biden administration plans to address Section 230 concerns, but Raimondo's comments offer some insight into what could come in the future. In an interview with The New York Times last year, Biden said that the law should be 'revoked.' Once Trump signed his social media order, a Biden campaign spokesperson told The Verge that he still wanted to repeal the law but disagreed with the former president's executive order.

When it comes to addressing monopoly power in the tech industry, Raimondo said she would leave those decisions up to Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. Still, Raimondo told Johnson, 'I believe in competition and innovation and as it relates to social media companies, I think they need to be held accountable for what they put on their platform. 'We have to hold these companies accountable,' Raimondo said.

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