Attorney General William Barr recently spoke out against a crucial law that currently protects most of the Big Tech companies from legal action over deplatforming, according to The Daily Caller.
At a Department of Justice workshop on Wednesday, Barr said that he believes Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act needs to be changed, since “the internet has evolved significantly since [it] was passed.”
While the law was “vital to protecting new technology in its incipiency,” Barr said, the internet has since “become essential to people’s daily lives, often serving as the primary conduit for how we receive and share information.” He added that “no longer are tech companies the underdog upstarts. They have become titans of U.S. industry.”
Barr’s criticisms echo the rhetoric of several rising stars on the Right who have been calling for an overhaul of the rules regarding Big Tech’s accountability for free expression and censorship, including Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). There have been numerous bipartisan investigations opened up into Big Tech practices across the country, including a vast majority of state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the United States Congress.