U.S. Senate panel approves sending subpoenas to CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, Google

Under systems of national socialism the authoritarian and his government decide which corporations prevail. And also decide how information and news are presented showing zero regard for notions of free speech.

Trump's R's want greater control over the market and media.

Republicans interfering in the free market again.

Section 230 is the exact opposite of the free market. It gives internet platforms an unfair advantage over traditional media outlets by ensuring they can never be sued for publishing libelous or criminal content, unlike traditional media and every other publisher. If you're going to criticise Republicans for regulating, criticise the ones who passed section 230.

Under systems of national socialism the authoritarian and his government decide which corporations prevail. And also decide how information and news are presented showing zero regard for notions of free speech.

Section 230 is what decided that internet platforms would prevail over traditional media. It's why everyone goes to Twitter during a breaking news event and why traditional outlets are collapsing. You can read thousands of libelous and criminal posts on social media before the traditional media has had time to do one single responsible fact check.

Internet platforms do not decide what their users publish, unlike traditional media.

No, not necessarily. It's a purely business decision to allow user content to appear before it's manually reviewed by the platform. Even as it stands, the platforms decide what posts remain published on their site. Why should they not be held accountable for these choices?

The way social media solicits content for publication is not substantially different from the New York Times. The NYT has hundreds of freelancers submitting daily articles but only a fraction of these are approved by the editors and make it into the paper. Many are rejected because they haven't been properly fact checked and would expose the NYT to legal claims. The NYT would love to cut their entire editorial department and just let their freelancers publish directly to the NYT website (just like social media content creators), but they can't because there is no ambiguity about whether the NYT is or isn't an internet intermediary under Section 230.

Removing this protection would mean more governmental interference in the market via the courts.

The government wouldn't be interfering. It would be ordinary individuals seeking the assistance of the courts to stop social media publishers from interfering with their individual rights not to threatened or defamed.

It would also require massive increases in costs for internet companies in order to avoid lawsuits by sensitive conservatives.

Yes, that's the point. That's why Section 230 is so unfair. Editorial and moderation costs are expenses that traditional media cannot escape. It would be no more expensive for Facebook or Twitter to protect themselves than it is for any traditional publisher of a similar size. The issue is that these platforms have grown so large, thanks in part to Section 230, that they probably can't survive without it.

Also, If Section 230 were repealed, there would be no question that Facebook or Twitter were private publishers with the absolute right to censor whoever they wish, so lawsuits by de-platformed conservatives would not be an issue.

P. Smith - Republicans interfering in the free market again. So much for their distaste’s of regulation. Utter hypocrites.

According to the associated article -

The U.S. Senate Commerce committee on Thursday UNANIMOUSLY voted to approve a plan to subpoena chief executives of Twitter, Alphabet's Google and Facebook for a hearing....

I guess that means that both democrats and Republicans voted in favor of issuing subpoenas to the internet's leaders.

Donald Trump has made holding tech companies accountable for allegedly stifling conservative voices

Right. We just don't hear nearly enough from Trump's tweets. The most stifled POTUS ever. Boo hoo.

Does anyone think Twitter, Facebook or Google will give up what they have been enjoying for years? They are far too big to allow the US government (or any government for that matter) to curb their rights in any way. Just wait and see..