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Call 202-225-3501 To Fix The Internet · Question Everything

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you an
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  Speaker 1: urgent Section 230 update, a specific action item that every
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: one of you can do today to help change this
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: law that drives the Internet. I know a bunch of
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: you have been writing me asking how you can help. Well,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I just learned about an easy, targeted, impactful task for
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  Speaker 1: you straight from the mouth of a U.S.
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  Speaker 2: Congressman.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: The congressman is Jake Auchincloss. He's a Democratic representative from
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  Speaker 1: near Boston, a former Marine. After weeks and weeks of
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  Speaker 1: effort from my producer and me trying to meet with
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  Speaker 1: lawmakers who are pushing Section 230 reform, including a trip
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to the Capitol where we tried to corner some of them.
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  Speaker 2: Senator Hawley? He vanished.
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  Speaker 1: Which was not very fruitful. Senator Graham, did you talk
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  Speaker 1: about Section 230 repeal?
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  Speaker 2: Looks like a chump. Chasing them like rats.
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  Speaker 1: Finally, we got one. A real live, hot-blooded lawmaker, Jake Auchincloss,
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  Speaker 1: who has proposed a bill in the House that would
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  Speaker 1: reform Section 230, claw back some of the immunity the
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  Speaker 1: law gives to tech platforms. He's particularly focused on the
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  Speaker 1: safety of kids online.
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  Speaker 2: He's a dad. The most important thing to me is.
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  Speaker 3: to crack the door open on Section 230 reform. It's
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  Speaker 3: difficult for me to convey how hard that is, how
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  Speaker 3: ferociously the tech lobby lobbies against that.
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  Speaker 1: I know we have some new listeners here. Some of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: you may have found our show after our recent Apple
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  Speaker 1: podcast's best of designation, which was very nice. So just
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  Speaker 1: to welcome you all and to bring you up to
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  Speaker 1: speed quickly, I'm Brian Reed. You're listening to Question Everything
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: from KCRW and Placement Theory. This is a show that
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  Speaker 1: started out trying to find ways to fight all the
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  Speaker 1: lies and distrust and division that are overwhelming journalism and
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  Speaker 1: all of us. And one of the solutions we've narrowed
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  Speaker 1: in on is changing a law called Section 230 from 1996,
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  Speaker 1: which gives companies on the Internet a special protection from
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  Speaker 1: lawsuits for things that other people post and do on
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  Speaker 1: their platforms. Same for users who repost things. I think
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  Speaker 1: changing Section 230 could help bring more accountability to the Internet.
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  Speaker 1: You can go back and listen to our episode, I
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Believed Sandy Hook Was a Hoax. It's in your feed,
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  Speaker 1: which is where I started to make my case. And
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  Speaker 1: what was so exciting about my conversation with Representative Auchincloss
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  Speaker 1: was we talked for an hour. And then at the
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  Speaker 1: very end of it, I asked him if there was
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  Speaker 1: anything I could do to help with his bill to
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  Speaker 1: change Section 230. Instead of giving me just like broad
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  Speaker 1: encouragements to keep raising awareness or whatever, he laid out clear,
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  Speaker 1: concrete marching orders for all of us.
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  Speaker 3: Well, if every single one of your listeners would call
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  Speaker 3: the office of Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and say
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  Speaker 3: that they want Section 230 reform, that would help a lot.
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  Speaker 3: Brett Guthrie is the chairman of Energy and Commerce, so
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  Speaker 3: he is the most powerful person on the congressional committee
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  Speaker 3: that regulates these tech companies.
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  Speaker 1: Representative Auchincloss is also on this committee, and he tells
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  Speaker 1: me they have a hearing coming up. It's not publicly
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  Speaker 1: listed yet, but it could be as soon as early
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  Speaker 1: next week, right after the holiday weekend. That's what's urgent
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  Speaker 1: about this. They're going to unveil and discuss a slate
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  Speaker 1: of bills having to do with kids' online safety, dealing
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  Speaker 1: with the effects of algorithms on kids' mental health, privacy
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  Speaker 1: of teenagers, things like that. And right now, Auchincloss' proposal
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  Speaker 1: to reform Section 230 has not made it onto the agenda.
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  Speaker 1: But Representative Auchincloss would like it to get on there.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe, just maybe, if a bunch of Question Everything
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: listeners were to call the head of the committee, Congressman
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  Speaker 1: Brett Guthrie, At 202-225-3501. That's 202-225-3501. Congressman Brett Guthrie might
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  Speaker 1: put the Section 230 bill on there.
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  Speaker 2: He's a reasonable man, Brett.
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  Speaker 3: I talk to him frequently about tech issues. I think
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  Speaker 3: he has an increasing awareness and an increasing sense of
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  Speaker 3: urgency about the need for us to legislate for, again,
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  Speaker 3: children is really the focus, for children's well-being.
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  Speaker 1: But he's the one– is he the one who's responsible
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  Speaker 1: for Section 230 not being on the agenda for this
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  Speaker 1: legislative hearing?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So the chairman of a committee almost unilaterally– there's always
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  Speaker 3: give and take in Congress– but almost unilaterally can decide
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  Speaker 3: the composition of a legislative hearing and a legislative markup.
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  Speaker 1: I know you have to go in a minute, but
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  Speaker 1: like this is really helpful actionable advice. Like Brett Guthrie, Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: call him, say Section 230 reform specifically is a priority.
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  Speaker 2: Can you make it a priority on the Commerce Committee?
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  Speaker 3: 100%.
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  Speaker 2: Do it.
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  Speaker 1: That number again for Congressman Brett Guthrie, 202-225-3501. Call Representative
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  Speaker 1: Guthrie and ask him to put Section 230 reform on
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  Speaker 1: the agenda for the upcoming online kids safety bill hearing
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  Speaker 1: at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This information plus
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  Speaker 1: info for how to email Congressman Guthrie, if you prefer
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  Speaker 1: doing it that way, is in the show notes. And
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  Speaker 1: we'll also share it on our Substack, questioneverything.substack.com. We'll also
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  Speaker 1: link to Representative Auchincloss' proposal so you can read it yourself. Auchincloss'
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  Speaker 1: bill would not repeal Section 230. His bill is called
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  Speaker 1: the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, and it's aimed primarily at
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  Speaker 1: stopping revenge porn, cyber-stalking, and deep fakes. If passed as is,
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  Speaker 1: it would require platforms to show a duty of care
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  Speaker 1: to protect people from these harms. And if they didn't,
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  Speaker 1: they'd lose the immunity of Section 230. It's important what Auchincloss'
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  Speaker 1: bill is trying to address. It may not be exactly
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  Speaker 1: how I would have gone about Section 230 reform, but
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  Speaker 1: this is a bipartisan proposal with two Republican co-sponsors. And
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  Speaker 1: Auchincloss says even if it's not the dream proposal, it
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  Speaker 1: could still change.
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  Speaker 2: This is early days.
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  Speaker 1: And he just wants to break the seal on reforming 230.
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  Speaker 3: We need to build bipartisan momentum to make changes. And
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  Speaker 3: I think focusing on a new technology, AI, and the
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  Speaker 3: ability to do deepfakes, which everybody understands like, whoa, this
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  Speaker 3: is different, the idea that You can just all of
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  Speaker 3: a sudden generate totally synthetic, high quality, seemingly real videos, pictures, voice,
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  Speaker 3: et cetera.
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  Speaker 2: You're in a whole new world. And so it's the
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  Speaker 2: right place to start. Okay. And to focus in.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious, how did you, I guess, first learn about
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  Speaker 1: Section 230? Do you even remember? Like, when did you
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  Speaker 1: first kind of tune into it?
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  Speaker 3: I came to the realization partly through reading about the
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  Speaker 3: psychology and cognition of brain development and the effects of
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  Speaker 3: social media. But then personally, just becoming a dad, I've
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  Speaker 3: got a five-year-old, a four-year-old, a two-and-a-half-year-old, the second youngest
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  Speaker 3: dad of the Democratic caucus now.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Bless you.
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  Speaker 1: I have a five-year-old, but that's where it stops.
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  Speaker 2: And probably they're already kind of after your phone, right?
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  Speaker 1: We had a whole conversation yesterday. She was like, I
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  Speaker 1: want to watch TV on your phone. And I was like–
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  Speaker 1: I had until like yesterday convinced her that there's no
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  Speaker 1: TV on my phone. that it's only on my mother-in-law's phone.
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  Speaker 1: But now she's starting to see the cracks in that.
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  Speaker 2: That facade is crumbling. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: As a dad, I feel like I'm in a race
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  Speaker 3: against time here. I got a couple more years before
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  Speaker 3: these things swamp my kids. And I feel powerless against
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  Speaker 3: these tech companies. But then as a member of Congress
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  Speaker 3: on the Committee of Jurisdiction, I don't feel powerless.
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  Speaker 2: And in fact, I.
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  Speaker 3: Feel empowered because I know how many of my fellow parents,
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  Speaker 3: how many students in my district How many Americans more
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  Speaker 3: broadly can see, even if they don't know the terminology
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  Speaker 3: on Section 230, can see that these are the most wealthy,
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  Speaker 3: powerful corporations in the history of the world, that they
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  Speaker 3: hold themselves above accountability to the American public, and that
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  Speaker 3: they have.
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  Speaker 2: To be humbled.
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  Speaker 1: If you agree, call Brett Guthrie on the House Energy
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  Speaker 1: and Commerce Committee right now, 202-225-3501. And even if you
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  Speaker 1: haven't decided fully where you stand on Section 230 yet,
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  Speaker 1: I get it. But you might still think this is
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  Speaker 1: at least worth a debate in Congress. Then that's worth
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  Speaker 1: a call too. The hearing on these online bills could
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  Speaker 1: happen as soon as Tuesday of next week. So start
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  Speaker 1: making your opinion known, telling Guthrie you want Section 230
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  Speaker 1: reform included. And again, check out and subscribe to our Substack, questioneverything.substack.com.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: where we're going to share my whole hour-long interview with
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  Speaker 1: Representative Jake Auchincloss. I enjoyed talking to him. You can
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  Speaker 1: hear more about his justification and thinking behind the way
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  Speaker 1: he's drafted this bill and his response to the criticisms
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  Speaker 1: of Section 230 reform that I put to him.
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  Speaker 2: Have a great holiday.