Professor Spencer Overton testified before the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, as minority witness to the “Preserving Free Speech and Reining in Big Tech Censorship” hearing. The hearing was centered around the opinion that Big Tech is censoring free speech.
In response to the hearing, Professor Overton said this in his testimony:
"While some suggest that content moderation by private social media companies stifles free speech, nothing could be further from the truth. The First Amendment stands as a check against government censorship—which government attempts to do in deterring platforms from engaging in content moderation. The First Amendment does not restrict private entities, who themselves have free speech rights."
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"Real bipartisan reform is possible if Republicans and Democrats come together to protect average Americans. Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree on several issues – like the fact that the internet is vastly different today than it was in 1996 when Section 230 was enacted. Today, many tech companies design and implement algorithms and other platform features to engage users to maximize profits, and because of broad interpretations of Section 230 many tech companies lack the same incentives as other companies to act responsibly. There should be bipartisan consensus that federal law should not incentivize companies to design platforms that impose real harms on many of the most vulnerable Americans – such as child exploitation and abuse, teen eating disorders and other mental health harms, hate-motivated violence, and employment and housing discrimination."
Watch more of his testimony below or read his full testimony.