The facts about Google, antitrust, and the First Amendment

Tucker: “Thanks to a special carve out Google has received from the United States Congress, something called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Google itself is not responsible for the content on its platform because the Congress says it doesn’t have to be.”

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Reality: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was passed by Congress in 1996. Google didn’t even exist until 1998. Since Section 230 was passed two years before Google even existed it is impossible for it to be a “special carve out Google” received from the government. Section 230 protects online platforms (like a website, app, etc.) from being liable for the content created by someone on their online platform. Under Section 230, all companies operating online platforms are responsible for their own content that they create on their platform. But they are not responsible for the content that is created by another person or company who uses their platform. The person who creates the content is responsible for the content.

Tucker: “Immunity is a very nice thing to have if you are a big company, Fox News doesn’t have it. But again, thanks to Congress Google does have immunity.”

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Reality: Section 230 applies to all companies equally. When Fox News operates its website, they do in fact have the exact same Section 230 protections that Google does. FoxNews.com has a comments section. And just as Google would be immune from any slanderous comments made by a commenter in a YouTube comments section, FoxNews.com is also immune from any slanderous comment made by a commenter in their comments section.

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