Want to Learn More About Section 230? A Guide to My Work (UPDATED)

I’ve written a lot on Section 230 over the years. I thought it might be helpful to provide a narrated and highly selective bibliography:

The Basics

• An Overview of the United States’ Section 230 Internet Immunity. This is the one-stop and relatively short primer you’ve been looking for. If you want to save even more time, skip the International comparisons.
• The United States’ Approach to “Platform” Regulation. Also a relatively short one-stop resource, but with a broader scope to include the First Amendment and state censorship.
• Why Section 230 Is Better Than the First Amendment. This relatively short essay explains the interaction between Section 230 and the First Amendment.
• Top Myths of Content Moderation. A short explainer of content moderation.
• Want to Kill Facebook and Google? Preserving Section 230 Is Your Best Hope. A short essay explaining Section 230’s pro-competitive benefits.

Dig Deeper–Policy Considerations

• Liability for User-Generated Content Online: Principles for Lawmakers. July 2019 statement of 53 academics and 28 organizations.
• Regulating Internet Services by Size. An essay explaining how to properly craft exceptions for small Internet services (and questioning the wisdom of doing so).
• Section 230’s Application to States’ Regulation of Social Media. My November 2021 testimony to the California Senate Judiciary Committee about how Section 230 restricts state legislative intiatives.
• Dear President Biden: You Should Save, Not Revoke, Section 230. An open letter to Pres. Biden about Section 230 policymaking.
• Five Things to Know About Section 230. An essay written primarily for a Canadian audience.
• Letter to Congress on Section 230’s benefits. March 2020 letter on behalf of 46 academics.
• Why Internet Companies Can’t Stop Awful Content. A short essay arguing that we should let go of the fiction that regulation can achieve a perfect outcome.
• Expert Report on the Value of Consumer Review Websites and 47 USC 230. A short report on Section 230’s critical role in enabling consumer review websites.
• Internet Immunity and the Freedom to Code. A short essay explaining how Section 230 reform could limit the freedom of software developers.

Dig Deeper–Specific Revisions

• The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230. FOSTA is a major cautionary tale of how Congress can hurt many communities with an ill-conceived amendment to Section 230. Will Congress learn the lessons that FOSTA teaches?
• The Implications of Excluding State Crimes from 47 U.S.C. § 230’s Immunity. Section 230 does not apply to federal prosecutions but does apply to state prosecutions. This essay explains why that incongruity actually makes sense. I wrote this in 2013 but the issue is still coming up in 2020.
• February 2020 interview with Mathew Ingram critiquing various reform arguments.

Dig Deeper–Section 230 History

• The Ten Most Important Section 230 Rulings. Who doesn’t love listicles about Section 230?
• Zeran v. America Online eBook. A deep examination of the most important Section 230 case of all time.
• Who Cyber-Attacked Ken Zeran, and Why? Exploring the greatest unsolved mystery in Internet Law.
• Online User Account Termination and 47 U.S.C. §230(c)(2). An older article rounding up the 230(c)(2) jurisprudence.