Supreme Court

Joe Lancaster | 10.8.2025 2:30 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court's new term began this week. In addition to the cases the court announced it would take up, it also declined many others, including two that asked the justices to consider and potentially reevaluate a cornerstone of the modern internet.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act holds that "no provider or user" of a website or online service "shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another" user, nor shall they "be held liable" for any moderation decisions "voluntarily taken in good faith."

In practice, this allowed the internet to flourish, as website owners and administrators could moderate content as they saw fit without worrying they could be held liable for illicit content that somebody else posted. The succinct statute has been referred to as "the twenty-six words that created the internet."

In May 2022, far-right provocateur and internet personality Laura Loomer sued Facebook, Twitter, and their respective CEOs for banning her from their platforms for posting hateful content. (She was also banned from Uber and........

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