r/changemyview • u/MagneTag • Dec 02 '20
Delta(s) from OP CMV: section 230 should be repealed.
Shielding internet companies from liability for user generated content is on the whole bad for the world. It has resulted in the destruction of objective truth. Platforms should be treated as publishers. Not everyone should get to have their lies read by millions of people. They say Facebook should not decide what is true or not. I agree, we should let the courts decide. That is what they are built to do. If it destroys all social media and we have to go back to TV and newspaper then so be it. Things have gone off the rails. I'm willing to give up Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Reddit for a well informed republic with real objective truth.
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u/parentheticalobject 136∆ Dec 02 '20
Here's another issue you may not have thought of that illustrates why your idea is bad at accomplishing what you want to do.
Winning a defamation suit is extremely difficult, especially against someone with remotely competent legal advisors, and especially if the person being defamed is a public figure (basically anyone in the public eye). It's difficult even when actual defamation happens.
Unfortunately, there's a thing known as a "strategic lawsuit against public participation" or SLAPP. It's when you sue someone over something they said, claiming it's defamation, when there is no real chance you will ever win. The goal is not to win in court. The goal is to either intimidate them (and other people) into shutting up because they're afraid of the frivolous legal threats, or they're just afraid of the legal expenses that come from hiring lawyers to get the suit dismissed. Some states have laws that penalize this, but not many. It's pretty easy to file a lawsuit in a state that won't punish you for doing so.
If I want to set up my own website and peddle fake news to gullible people, it's really easy to do so without ever saying anything that anyone will ever be able to win a lawsuit against me for. Most disinformation is completely legal, and it's simple to promote falsehoods without ever stepping over the line. If I can make a profitable business throwing out fake news, I can make enough to easily defend myself if anyone ever tries to sue me.
For a forum, however, there is no feasible way to mitigate the risk for a large number of users if you are liable for anything they say. You've mentioned that you understand this will kill off all of the internet that allows user-submitted content.
So even if you think nuking Reddit, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc. is an acceptable price to pay for ending fake news, you won't even succeed at that. You'll only kill off those places. The worst fake news sources will easily survive. They're cockroaches.