Chair Rodgers Opening Statement at Legislative Hearing on Sunsetting Section 230

in Commerce for 5 minutes for her opening statement good morning and thank you chairman L ranking member palone and I recently unveiled bipartisan draft legislation to Sunset section 230 of the communications decency act as written section 230 was originally intended to protect internet service providers from being held liable for content posted by a third party user or for removing truly horrific or illegal content the intent was to make the internet a safe place and allow companies to remove harmful content in good faith without being held liable for doing so however the internet has changed dramatically since then over five billion people around the world use social media with the average person spending more than two hours a day on social media the internet has become vital for people to connect work find information make a living big Tech is exploiting this to profit off us and use the information we share to develop addictive algorithms that push content onto our feeds at the same time they refuse to strengthen their platform's protections against predators drug dealers sex traffickers extortioners and cyber bullies our children are the ones paying the greatest Price they are developing addictive and dangerous habits often at the expense of their Mental Health big Tech has failed to uphold American values and be good stewards of the content they host it's been nearly three decades since section 230 was enacted and the reality is many of these companies didn't even exist when the law was written and we could not comprehend the full effect of the internet's capabilities it is past time for Congress to re-evaluate section 230 in recent years us courts have expanded the meaning of what Congress originally intended for this law interpreting section 230 in a way that gives big tech companies nearly unlimited immunity from legal consequences these blanket pre protections have resulted in Tech firms operating without transparency or accountability for how they manage their platforms and harm users this means that a social media company for example can't easily be held responsible if it promotes amplifies or makes money from selling drugs illegal weapons or us other ilicit content through their post as more and more companies integrate generative artificial intelligence Technologies into their platforms these harms will only get worse and AI will re Define what it means to be a publisher potentially creating new legal challenges for companies as long as the status quo prevails big Tech has no incentive to change the way they operate and they will continue putting profits ahead of the mental health of our society and youth reforming section 230 and holding big Tech accountable has been a longtime priority of mine and ranking member palone last Congress we both introduced our own legislation to reform the decades old law unfortunately tech companies did not not engage with us in meaningful ways and offered no Solutions or reforms ultimately no Solutions or reforms were made and big Tech is satisfied with the status quo so much so that they've become Masters at Deception distraction and hiding behind others in order to keep section 230 unchanged that's why we're taking bipartisan action now our discussion draft will bring Congress and stakeholders to the table to work in good faith to create a solution that ensures accountability protects Innovation and free speech and requires companies to be good stewards of their platforms let me be clear our goal is not for Section 230 to disappear but the reality is that nearly 25 bills to amend section 230 have been introduced over the last two congresses many of these were good faith attempts to reform the law and big Tech lobbied to kill them every time these companies left us with no no other option by enacting this legislation we will force Congress to act it is long past time to hold these companies accountable The Shield of section 230 should be there to protect the American people not big Tech I'm hopeful that this legislation is the start of an opportunity to work in a bipartisan way to achieve that goal it is vital that we develop solutions to restore people's Free Speech identity and safety online while also in continuing to encourage Innovation that's the American way I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today and I yield back