AT&T Seeks Section 230 Update, Even Playing Field With Tech Industry

Communications Decency Act Section 230 should be modified to even the playing field between tech companies and other third-party content providers, AT&T blogged Monday. The company will comment to the FCC Wednesday (see 2008120050), arguing “online platforms should be more accountable for, and more transparent about, the decisions they control,” wrote Executive Vice President-Regulatory and State External Affairs Joan Marsh. Congress didn’t have any way of predicting tech companies would use Section 230 as a shield from frivolous lawsuits and “every day responsibilities,” she wrote: Platform content decisions are “shrouded in obscurity, away from public view, in a world where black-box algorithms and non-negotiable terms pick winners and losers.”