Broadband Breakfast on January 25, 2023 – Section 230, Google, Twitter and the Supreme Court

See Must Internet Platforms Host Objectionable Content? Appeals Courts Consider ‘Must Carry’ Rules, Broadband Breakfast, January 30, 2023

Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023, 12 Noon ET – Section 230, Google, Twitter and the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will soon hear two blockbuster cases involving Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act: Gonzalez v. Google on February 21, and  Twitter v. Taamneh on February 22. Both of these cases ask if tech companies can be held liable for terrorist content on their platforms. Also in play: Laws in Florida and in Texas (both on hold during the course of litigation) that would limit online platforms’ ability to moderate content. In a recent brief, Google argued that denying Section 230 protections for platforms “could have devastating spillover effects.” In advance of Broadband Breakfast’s Big Tech & Speech Summit on March 9, this Broadband Breakfast Live Online event will consider Section 230 and the Supreme Court.

Panelists:

• Chris Marchese, Counsel, NetChoice
• Ari Cohn, Free Speech Counsel, TechFreedom
• Jessica Dheere, Director, Ranking Digital Rights
• Ali Sternburg, Vice President of Information Policy, Computer & Communications Industry Association
• Marshall Van Alstyne, Questrom Chair Professor, Boston University
• Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Panelist resources:

• Reynaldo Gonzalez, et. al, v. Google, Supreme Court Docket 21-1333
• Twitter v. Mehier Taamneh, et al., Supreme Court Docket 21-1496
• NetChoice v. Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, Supreme Court Docket 22-555
• Ashley Moody, Attorney General of Florida, et al., v. NetChoice, Supreme Court Docket 22-277
• TechFreedom’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Gonzalez v. Google
• TechFreedom’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in NetChoice v. Moody
• TechFreedom’s amicus brief to the Fifth Circuit in NetChoice v. Paxton
• Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, Marshall Van Alstyne, December 31, 2021
• The Big Tech Scorecard, Ranking Digital Rights, 2022
• “It’s the Business Model: How Big Tech’s Profit Machine is Distorting the Public Sphere and Threatening Democracy” Report Series, Ranking Digital Rights, 2020
• Supreme Court Seeks Biden Administration’s Input on Texas and Florida Social Media Laws, Broadband Breakfast, January 24, 2023
• Google Defends Section 230 in Supreme Court Terror Case, Broadband Breakfast, January 13, 2023
• Changing Section 230 Would Jeopardize Startup, Broadband Breakfast, January 6, 2023
• Amid Big Tech Controversies, Section 230’s Future is Uncertain, Broadband Breakfast’s 12 Days of Broadband, December 20, 2023
• Tech Groups, Free Expression Advocates Support Twitter in Landmark Content Moderation Case, Broadband Breakfast, December 8, 2023

Chris Marchese analyzes technology-related legislative and regulatory issues at both the federal and state level. His portfolio includes monitoring and analyzing proposals to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, antitrust enforcement, and potential barriers to free speech and free enterprise on the internet. Before joining NetChoice in 2019, Chris worked as a law clerk at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, where he analyzed legal issues relevant to the business community, including state-court decisions that threatened traditional liability rules.

Ari Cohn is Free Speech Counsel at TechFreedom. A nationally recognized expert in First Amendment law, he was previously the Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and has worked in private practice at Mayer Brown LLP and as a solo practitioner, and was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Ari graduated cum laude from Cornell Law School, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jessica Dheere is the director of Ranking Digital Rights, and co-authored RDR’s spring 2020 report “Getting to the Source of Infodemics: It’s the Business Model.” An affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, she is also founder, former executive director, and board member of the Arab digital rights organization SMEX, and in 2019, she launched the CYRILLA Collaborative, which catalogs global digital rights law and case law. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the New School.

Ali Sternburg is Vice President of Information Policy at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, where she focuses on intermediary liability, copyright, and other areas of intellectual property. Ali joined CCIA during law school in 2011, and previously served as Senior Policy Counsel, Policy Counsel, and Legal Fellow. She is also an Inaugural Fellow at the Internet Law & Policy Foundry.

Marshall Van Alstyne (@InfoEcon) is the Questrom Chair Professor at Boston University. His work explores how IT affects firms, innovation, and society with an emphasis on business platforms. He co-authored the international best seller Platform Revolution and his research influence ranks among the top 2% of all scientists globally.

Drew Clark (moderator) is CEO of Breakfast Media LLC. He has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.

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