Amy Klobuchar introduces bill to make tech companies liable if their users post COVID misinformation and they fail to take it down


  • The Health Misinformation Act will be introduced to the Senate on Thursday
  • It is sponsored by Amy Klobuchar and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico
  • No Republicans have signed on to support the bill, which takes on tech firms
  • The companies must remove vaccine and public health misinformation
  • The Department of Health and Human Services would issue guidelines on what constitutes health misinformation
  • If the tech firms fail to do so, they will be held liable, with a court ultimately deciding the verdict
  • The bill comes amid a wide debate about the power of Section 230
  • Section 230 shields tech platforms - unlike publishers - from responsibility for content on their sites. Critics say it gives the tech firms too much power

By REUTERS and HARRIET ALEXANDER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:02 EDT, 22 July 2021 | UPDATED: 04:21 EDT, 23 July 2021

Internet platforms such as Facebook and Google will be required to take down vaccine misinformation under proposals announced on Thursday by two Democrat senators.

Amy Klobuchar, senator for Minnesota, and New Mexico's Ben Ray Lujan's bill will add to the stack of legislation going after Section 230 - a law that protects tech companies from being sued over content posted by users.

If the internet platforms do not take down health and vaccine-related misinformation during public health emergencies, they would be held liable for that failure.

A court would still need to adjudicate any liability.

It also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidelines on what constitutes health misinformation.


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Amy Klobuchar, seen on July 19, is co-sponsoring the Health Misinformation Bill, to hold tech firms responsible for public health misinformation published on their platforms


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New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a fellow Democrat, is the second sponsor of the bill
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Klobuchar and Lujan want companies such as Facebook to do more to stop the spread of disinformation

'These are some of the biggest, richest companies in the world and they must do more to prevent the spread of deadly vaccine misinformation,' said Klobuchar.

'Earlier this year, I called on Facebook and Twitter to remove accounts that are responsible for producing the majority of misinformation about the coronavirus, but we need a long-term solution.

'This legislation will hold online platforms accountable for the spread of health-related misinformation.'

The bill quotes a study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate that found social media platforms failed to act on 95 per cent of coronavirus-related disinformation reported to them.

Joe Biden said last week that Facebook and other companies were 'killing people' by serving as platforms for misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.

He later clarified his comments by saying that he wasn't accusing Facebook of killing people, but that he instead wanted the company to 'do something about the misinformation, the outrageous information about the vaccine.'



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Facebook has rejected the Biden administration's criticisms.

In a blog post, the company said that 85 per cent of its users in the U.S. have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Facebook also said it was doing its part to help get more Americans vaccinated, such as by operating pop-up vaccine clinics in low-income and underserved communities in California and other states.

The bill, the Health Misinformation Act, does not have the support of any Republicans.

The Chamber of Progress, which describes itself as a center-left tech policy coalition, said the bill was misguided.

'We all want less misinformation online, but this approach would turn future Republican presidents into the speech police,' said Adam Kovacevich, the chief executive, in a statement.

'Democrats would regret this.'


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Politicians are increasingly seeking to rein in the power of companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, which benefit from Section 230 - shielding them from any risk as to what is published on their platforms

What is Section 230

Section 230 was created in the 1990s.
It prevents tech platforms from being treated as publishers.
The law means that, unlike newspapers, social media platforms cannot be held liable for content that people post on their sites, including hate speech and misinformation.
Tech firms maintain that Section 230 is what protects free speech on the open internet.
Critics say that it means lies, conspiracy theories and offensive material circulate unchecked.
Both Republicans and Democrats are in favor of revising Section 230: Republicans because they feel that the tech companies have too much power to censor people, like Donald Trump, and should not be protected, and Democrats because they want more content moderation.
It is not the first bill targeting tech's liability shield from Senator Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate antitrust subcommittee.
Earlier this year, she co-sponsored another bill called the Safe Tech Act with two fellow Democrats.

It aims to make social media companies more accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, targeted harassment and discrimination on their platforms.

The chief executives of Google, Twitter and Facebook have said Section 230 is crucial to free expression on the internet.

They said it gives them the tools to strike a balance between preserving free speech and moderating content, even as they appeared open to suggestions that law needs moderate changes.

On Tuesday Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, said that social media companies should be held accountable for publishing misleading information on the COVID vaccine.

She also said the administration is reviewing Section 230.

'Social media companies have a responsibility,' Bedingfield said on MSNBC's Morning Joe, echoing a message that has come out of the White House this week as they try to raise the vaccination rate.

'We're reviewing that and certainly they should be held accountable.

'I think you heard the president speak very aggressively about this.

'It is also the responsibility of the people creating the content.

'Again I go back to there are conservative news outlets creating irresponsible content sharing misinformation about the virus that's getting shared on these platforms.

'So it is a big and complicated ecosystem and everybody bears responsibility.'

Several Republican lawmakers have separately pushed to scrap the law entirely over decisions by tech platforms to moderate content critical of former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

There are several other pieces of legislation aimed at changing the law that have been making the rounds for over a year, including a bipartisan bill from Democrat Brian Schatz and Republican John Thune.

Trump repeatedly pushed for the legal protection to be stripped away over what he alleged was censorship against conservatives.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9815567/U-S-senators-aim-stop-vaccine-misinformation-going-techs-legal-immunity.html