Statement In Response To FCC Chairman Pai’s Interest In Opening A Section 230 Rulemaking

Washington, DC – IA Deputy General Counsel Elizabeth Banker released the following statement on the news that the Federal Communications Comission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai expressed his commitment to initiate a rulemaking on Section 230 based on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA’s) petition:

“The constitution guarantees freedom of speech, not freedom of reach. The First Amendment protects every private enterprise’s ability to set and enforce rules for acceptable content on their services. The FCC also lacks the authority to make the changes proposed in the NTIA’s petition because they conflict with the plain language of Section 230. Only a fundamental change to the First Amendment, not to Section 230, would achieve the goal of the NTIA’s petition, and that is clearly beyond the FCC’s reach.”

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