Following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter and Facebook took the unusual step of banning President Trump from their platforms, citing evidence that his comments incited the violence there. But their authority to act rests on a poorly understood and hotly debated law that has drawn intense criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media companies from lawsuits based on content posted by users. It also specifies that the companies have the right to remove content that violates their guidelines and values. But while the law has critics across the political spectrum, most experts agree that it’s vital to a relatively free and safe Internet. Here’s an overview of the law and its key provisions. Courtesy The Indian Express.