Amidst the debate over controlling the internet and social media, Donald Trump made a complete determination that section 230 should be abolished, but it could not be. See how the trump collided with platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
US President Donald Trump and many members of the US Republican Party have been periodically expressing resentment over an obscure but important law. Even though the scope for some changes cannot be ruled out, but in terms of Internet and social media, this law (Social Media Law) is quite uncommon. You also know that due to the violence triggered by the Trump supporters in Washington DC’s Capitol Hill Violence recently, Twitter and Facebook suspended Trump accounts.
In the past, there have been situations like war between Twitter and Trump and Trump has also spoken of taking action on Twitter in a threatening tone. But the US President could not really take such a step. Don’t you think some important law is coming in the middle? How much do you know about that law or system?
What is section 230?
Section 230 of the Communication Disabilities Act, 1996 is very important in America. In fact, this whole act was created so that online porn can be controlled, that action can be taken against the culprits by considering providing porn to children. Overall, through this act, ‘pornographic and indecent’ content is controlled.
Later section 230 was added to this act. This means in easy language that whatever websites on the Internet are of user content, that is, any platform where a user can talk, the platform will not be considered legally responsible for any kind of content.
So, why is this law important?
With this system of 26 words, you understand that the great phase of social media has started. Many platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are legal on the basis of these words. The second aspect is that due to this system, some more criminal activities including misinformation, propaganda, hate speech and fake news also increased on online platforms.
Having become an everyday part of business and social life, it also becomes necessary that there are better laws governing social media. In such a situation, section 230 defines social media in a way that they are not responsible for the information coming on the platform.
After all, why did Trump get angry and what happened?
Trump has continuously targeted social media to the point that there is no restriction on the opposition ideology. In order to crush the opposition’s social media, when Trump spoke about how to curb the world’s big companies like Facebook and Twitter, it also happened that Twitter started putting flag, warning tags on Trump’s posts, which were misleading or tricking. were supposed. Trump was seen furious during the US presidential election:
why is section 230 strong?
After this, the Trump administration also made an effort to abolish section 230 and a new bill was prepared. However, the plan could not succeed. In fact, the removal of the provision of section 230, according to the US constitution, was seen as a step to eliminate the fundamental right to ‘freedom of expression’. With one step to crush it, there is a danger of many types of business ending up in one stroke.
Experts clearly said that there is scope for change in section 230, but after careful consideration. It is not appropriate to do so that you completely eliminate it in one stroke.
Does this system affect India?
When the world is connected and there are no borders, especially in the virtual world, it is not possible that the matter of any corner should not be connected to any other corner or affect there. Now see that in 2016, the European Union created the Data Protection Regulation System, that too is considered to be an extended form of section 230.
When you go to a website and that web company gives a message to accept cookies, it means that the company is tracking the user. In view of all these aspects, the legal systems regarding internet and social media are in a very early and weak phase in India. In such a situation, when countries like India are thinking about making laws in this direction, then the whole debate about section 230 becomes very useful for India.
Significantly, in India too, Amit Malviya, the in-charge of the BJP’s IT cell, has also accused the trump on Twitter. Twitter has also tagged his tweets with warnings like ‘sly media’ . In such a situation, you can understand that the debate in America about this becomes very important in deciding the future arrangements in India.
