By Michael D. Smith and Marshall Van Alstyne
A quarter of a century ago, in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, Congress implemented “safe harbor” protections against legal liability for any content users post on social-media platforms. These platforms provide lots of benefits, of course, but since 1996 we’ve learned just how much social devastation they can also bring about. What we’ve learned, the authors write, makes it clear that Section 230 is desperately out of date and needs updating, to hold social-media platforms responsible for how their sites are designed and implemented.