Josh Hawley's new tech bill would blow up the internet

A bad solution for a fictional problem

Josh Hawley.
(Image credit: Illustrated | ChooStudio/iStock, AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." It's a Republican zinger from the Reagan era that doesn't get much play anymore in the age of Trump. Right-wing populists have little problem with government intervention — pushing for a massive border wall to be built by GOP donors, aid to farmers hurt by President Trump's trade war with China, presidential browbeating of U.S. companies that shutter factories, bigger budget deficits — as long as Washington is intervening for them and against their enemies.

But while the Gipper's one-liner may seem an anachronism in the modern GOP, it is still true that Senator Josh Hawley is from the government and he's here to help. The first-term Missouri Republican wants to strip large internet companies of the sweeping immunity against lawsuits they're granted under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Specifically, Hawley's Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act — introduced on Wednesday — would permit lawsuits over user-generated content unless companies submit to an external audit by the Federal Trade Commission that proves by "clear and convincing evidence" that they do not moderate content "in a politically biased manner."

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James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he runs the AEIdeas blog. He has also written for The New York Times, National Review, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and other places.