Section 230 (often called the 26 words that created the internet) reads:
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
Wikipedia also says:
Section 230©(2) further provides “Good Samaritan” protection from civil liability for operators of interactive computer services in the good faith removal or moderation of third-party material they deem “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.”
I’m also not a lawyer so I have no clue what the ramifications for this are, but I’m guessing that Reddit isn’t liable for stuff people upload as long as the illegal stuff gets removed.
If Reddit undeletes a post, could they be treated as the publisher? At the very least it sounds not very good-samaritan-y of them to do that, so maybe they wouldn’t be protected in that case.
BTW, the supreme court heard a few cases centered around section 230 a few months ago! And Biden called for it to be reformed! So depending on how that goes, the internet could get shaken up soon. We’re in some interesting times.
I hope they make an example out of Twitter too. Especially since other companies (ahem) are looking to Musk for ideas on how to run themselves.