Democrats Team Up w MAGA to Censor The Internet
Democrats like Amy Klobuchar, Dick Durbin and more are teaming up with MAGA to give Trump the power to censor anything he wants on the internet. As early as next week, Senators plan to introduce the first bipartisan bill to repeal Section 230, the landmark internet law that protects free speech online.
This bipartisan threat to repeal the legislation is part of a broader push from the Trump White House to force tech companies to bend to the government’s will, Paris Martineau reports at The Information.
A full repeal of section 230 would devastate large parts of the tech industry, and so the lawmakers are claiming that they simply want to “reform” it in a way that would give the government ultimate power to censor content online and determine what speech certain platforms do and do not allow.
Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and a co-director of its High Tech Law Institute, called the effort “a form of extortion.” Adam Kovacevich, founder of lobbying firm Chamber of Progress, said it was “hostage taking.”
Martineau writes:
Judges around the country have been slowly but surely chipping away at Section 230, issuing a slew of conflicting and often difficult-to-interpret rulings that make it harder for tech companies both big and small to predict their liability risks. And a deluge of pending cases regarding “social media addiction” will only further muddle the legal landscape, using novel legal theories that aim to sidestep Section 230 protections.
Kovacevich, who has worked in the tech and public policy space for two decades, said tech companies are currently facing an unprecedented volume of attacks, particularly taking into account the dozens of state bills introduced in recent months. When it comes to Section 230, he worries lawmakers don’t realize the potential consequences of their actions.
“I think most members of Congress tend to think of repealing 230 as a punishment for tech,” said Kovacevich. “But the reality is that without 230, platforms would either look like Disneyland, which would be a sanitized environment where every user post had to be pre-screened, or it’d be a wasteland, where essentially they never looked for anything and every platform looked like 4chan, because they didn’t want to have liability for even looking at potentially defamatory content.”
“I don’t think either one of those outcomes is very good,” he said.
President Trump himself has long advocated for Section 230’s repeal, and Brendan Carr, whom Trump recently tapped to chair the Federal Communications Commission, has repeatedly stated that he believes the agency has the authority to reinterpret Section 230—despite decades of precedent and a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court suggesting otherwise.
Meet Brendan Carr, America’s Federal Censorship Chair
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has positioned himself as one of the most dangerous figures in the Trump administration’s ongoing war on free speech. Carr is using his government position to intimidate journalists, punish media outlets, and pressure tech companies into cracking down on free expression. And he has done all of this while building his profile as a “free speech” influencer on X.
If left unchecked, Carr’s censorship crusade could fundamentally reshape our information ecosystem and have massive consequences for anyone seeking to speak freely without fear of government retaliation.
Mike Masnick, founder of TechDirt, joined me on this week’s Power User to break down who Carr is, why his agenda is so dangerous, what exactly he’s doing to dismantle free speech protections in America, and how it all fits into a much bigger movement to control who can speak freely online. Subscribe to my YouTube channel!
What I’m reading
America Needs a New Free Speech Movement
Trump is showing us what an unaccountable class of corporate decision-makers looks like—and it looks like a lot of fear, and a terrible loss of freedom. — The Nation
Vivian Wilson on Being Elon Musk’s Estranged Daughter, Going Viral, and Protecting Trans Youth
In Teen Vogue’s special issue cover story, the estranged 20-year-old daughter of Elon Musk talks about the “cartoonishly evil” Trump administration and being a young trans woman today. — Teen Vogue
The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem
Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here. — The Atlantic
How Bryan Johnson, Who Wants to Live Forever, Sought Control via Confidentiality Agreements
That control is starting to fray as Mr. Johnson, a longevity guru known for performing experiments on his body, faces a backlash over the agreements. — NY Times
It’s Time for Apple to End Its Culture of Secrecy
The Apple Intelligence debacle calls for a cultural reset and the end of silos in Cupertino. — Big Technology
Inside ‘Bluey’s World’: How a Cute Aussie Puppy Became an Estimated $2B Juggernaut
The brand has spawned immersive experiences, books, podcasts, toys, albums, clothing, homeware, themed hotel rooms, Facebook groups and a mobile game and has made fans out of adults and kids alike: “This is the greatest show ever.” — THR
What ‘Conservative Cosmo’ Thinks Women Want
The Evie reader can work. She can be a mom. It’s her choice. It’s just not feminism. — NY Times
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User Mag news rundown
- Trump suggests sending people vandalizing Teslas to El Salvador prison camps.
- Porn video podcasts on Spotify (which feature ripped PornHub footage) are infiltrating the platform’s top podcast charts.
- Yahoo strikes a deal to sell TechCrunch to media investment firm Regent, which acquired PCWorld publisher Foundry earlier this week.
- Poppi’s sale has made MAGA TikToker Bryce Hall even richer.
- Mom, the brands are fighting again! Comparison advertising is getting more confrontational.
- X is letting users know that they can and will read your DMs. (h/t garbage day)
- Macklemore is producing a new doc on Columbia University’s Gaza protests.
- They’re trying to West Elm Caleb liberal Gen Z influencer Harry Sisson and Magdalene Taylor has a great piece breaking the drama down.
- More influencers are making content while on the job, using the office as a backdrop.
- Libs Of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik was invited to the White House to watch President Donald Trump dissolve the Department of Education.
- Twitch and YouTube streamers like Valkyrae and IShowSpeed and others are increasingly being attacked in public while on stream.
Criminals are using more drones in burglaries and to peep on people.
- Believe it or not, there are paper straw fans out there, and they’re fighting back.
- Roblox cozies up to creators with promises that it’ll recommend their games.
- A Twitch streamer accidentally showed off her viewbotting app. Viewbotting is becoming more common in the livestreaming community.
- Andrew and Tristan Tate have filed a lawsuit against multiple X users for defamation.
- Elon Musk calls Jimmy Kimmel an ‘unfunny jerk’ after his jokes about Tesla and DOGE.
- A new AI breakthrough is a ‘revolution’ in weather forecasting.
- Good Good Golf, which has 1.75 million YouTube subscribers, raised $45 million from a former YouTube exec and Peyton Manning.
- Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, recently traveled to the UAE to sign a deal for his drone light show company.
- SpaceX could soon control public beach closures in South Texas.
- A designer presented a jacket with what looked a lot like a swastika across the back at Omaha, Nebraska fashion week. (Yes, Omaha has a fashion week)
- Flow is a a dreamy arthouse animation about the climate crisis
- An investigation into why people become obsessed with their partners exes online.
Severance has been renewed for Season 3 by Apple TV.
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