Free Speech

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | From the February/March 2026 issue

We can thank Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act for much of our freedom to communicate online. It enabled the rise of search engines, social media, and countless platforms that make our modern internet a thriving marketplace of all sorts of speech.

Its first 26 words have been vital, if controversial, for protecting online platforms from liability for users' posts: "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." If I defame someone on Facebook, I'm responsible—not Meta. If a neo-Nazi group posts threats on its website, it's the Nazis, not the domain registrar or hosting service, who could wind up in court.

How Section 230 should apply to generative AI, however, remains a hotly debated issue.

With AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, the "information content provider" is the chatbot. It's the speaker. So the AI—and the company behind it—would not be protected by Section 230, right?

Section 230 co-author former Rep. Chris Cox (R–Calif.) agrees. "To be entitled to........

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