Appearing today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at a hearing titled “Liability or Deniability? Platform Power as Section 230 Turns 30,” the Institute’s Policy Director Nadine Farid Johnson underscored the provision’s vital role in protecting free speech online—while acknowledging that difficult questions remain about the scope of its protections and outlining structural reforms to ensure online platforms better serve the public.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 limits the liability of online platforms for user-generated content and allows them to moderate that content without assuming legal responsibility for it. These protections have helped define the digital public sphere. Farid Johnson also emphasized the independent role that the First Amendment plays in protecting speech online. 

Rather than repealing the provision, Farid Johnson urged Congress to pursue structural reforms that would strengthen users’ privacy, require greater transparency from platforms, and give users more control over their data and online experience.

Read Farid Johnson’s full testimony here.

Watch the full hearing below.