Regulate Section 230
In October 2020, big technology was called to congress to discuss Section 230, an initiative that Senator John Thune took up during this new hearing, where Haugen was questioned about whether a change in this law could encourage Facebook to change its algorithms.
“I think if we had proper oversight or if we reformed Section 230 to hold Facebook accountable for the consequences of their intentional rating decisions, I think they would get rid of engagement-based rating because it is causing teens to be exposed to more anorexia or harmful content. It is separating families and, in places like Ethiopia, it is literally stoking ethnic violence, ”Haugen said.
Law 230 is a regulation that was passed in 1996 and protects websites from lawsuits if a user publishes something illegal, although there are exceptions for copyrights, materials related to sex work and violations of the Federal Criminal Law of the United States.
The idea of the regulation is to be based on the First Amendment in which the US government cannot restrict most forms of expression, but in view of this, the plurality of the conversation does not legally affect companies, however, a few years ago. months, US President Dolnald Trump issued an executive order to regulate this Act, arguing that companies must be more proactive and clear in the use of the technology they use to moderate content.