As for evaluating the mountain of evidence that would have to be produced—Google alone processes more than 800 million search results a day from content created by others—the bill would place this responsibility with the Federal Trade Commission. This Woodrow Wilson creation, one of Washington’s oldest administrative agencies, normally focuses on consumer protection and antitrust enforcement. Its five commissioners are all political appointees, mostly antitrust lawyers. Nothing qualifies them to determine which websites are politically neutral and which aren’t.
Will the FTC commissioners and staff read all the moderated content on websites with, as the bill provides, a minimum of 300 million active users? Will they adopt regulations that can withstand the inevitable (and lengthy) court challenges? Will they convene administrative proceedings and sit as judge and jury? Will they have some way to determine whether the website’s “intent” in moderating was to exert political bias?
These questions would likely prove academic, as Sen. Hawley’s bill provides a way of avoiding the unbounded legal liability that would come with being labeled politically biased. Any conceivably “political” content, no matter how hateful, dangerous or violent, will be left untouched—without concern for taste, public safety or the common decency one otherwise might expect in public discourse.
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