Justice Thomas Writes in Favor of a Narrow Reading of 47 U.S.C. § 230
He seems open to materially increasing Internet service and content providers' liability for libels posted by their users, and based on other user misconduct.
From his statement today respecting the denial of certiorari this morning in Malwarebytes, Inc. v. Enigma Software Group USA, LLC:
I write to explain why, in an appropriate case, we should consider whether the text of this increasingly important statute [47 U.S.C. §230] aligns with the current state of immunity enjoyed by Internet platforms….
[The statute:] Enacted at the dawn of the dot-com era, §230 contains two subsections that protect computer service providers from some civil and criminal claims. The first is definitional. It states, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." §230(c)(1). This provision ensures that a company (like an e-mail provider) can host and transmit third-party content without subjecting itself to the liability that sometimes attaches to the publisher or speaker of unlawful content.
The second subsection provides direct immunity from some civil liability. It states that no computer service provider "shall be held liable" for (A) good-faith acts to restrict access to, or remove, certain types of objectionable content; or (B) giving consumers tools to filter the same types of content. §230(c)(2). This limited protection enables companies to create community guidelines and remove harmful content without worrying about legal reprisal.
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