(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department is sending Congress on Wednesday its proposal to rein in a legal shield treasured by online platforms such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, alongside a White House event with President Donald Trump on the alleged anti-conservative bias of tech companies.
Trump and Attorney General William Barr are slated to meet at the White House Wednesday with Republican state attorneys general to discuss the allegations of bias by the tech companies, which the firms deny. The administration has suggested that the issue of bias isn’t one of free speech, but rather of companies violating state laws and having deceptive business practices.
The Justice Department’s proposals will impose requirements on the companies to manage their content and policies in order to get immunity, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers are also increasingly seeking to change the law, although they rarely agree on the approach. The current Congress isn’t likely to pass any changes to the law, with weeks to go before the election.
The push to revise Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is coming as the Justice Department prepares to launch a historic antitrust lawsuit against Google, part of a broader assault on the power of giant technology companies.
Law’s Provisions
Section 230 focuses not on competition, but rather allows websites such as Google and Facebook Inc. to avoid lawsuits for content that users post. Conservatives increasingly say it enables the companies to systematically silence right-wing content without consequence.
The Justice Department in June had already proposed a first round of overhauls to the law, and the Trump administration has prompted the Federal Communications Commission to look into changes through rulemaking.
The efforts came after Twitter Inc. put fact checks and warnings on Trump posts, prompting concerns by Democrats and legal scholars that the president was trying to punish the companies’ constitutionally protected exercise of free speech.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the proposals to curb the legal shield.
Also on Wednesday, Justice Department staff are expected to brief states on an antitrust case against Google, which the U.S. is expected to file within days, Bloomberg has reported. It focuses on the company’s alleged anticompetitive behavior involving its dominant search business.
Some of those states, particularly Republican ones, could sign on, Bloomberg has reported. Additional cases could arise out of a multi-state antitrust investigation that has been going on in parallel to the federal probe. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading an inquiry that focuses on the company’s position in the online ad market and could launch a separate case soon after the Justice Department files its suit.
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