On Thursday, Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) announced new legislation making changes to Section 230 in response to last week’s Facebook whistleblower hearings. Specifically, the bill would open up companies to lawsuits for showing controversial content in cases where the platform used personal data to promote the content in their algorithm.

“Cracking down on harmful online content is one of the biggest challenges that Congress and tech face today – but this bill exacerbates the issue,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “By prohibiting companies from using personal data to recommend relevant content to users, platforms could be forced to rely more heavily on metrics like viral engagement that result in the spread of bad content. That’s a disaster for the newsfeed.”

The expose published by the Wall Street Journal last month highlighted how the use of engagement-based metrics can result in more conflict and malicious content online. 

Chamber of Progress supports action in Congress to update privacy laws and has endorsed the expansion of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to include a new bureau focused on privacy, data security, and identity theft.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a new center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  
Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.