Historically there were two modes of distribution, "publishers" and "common carriers".
Publishers (like newspapers) had full control over their content, and also had full responsibility for it (e.g., if they printed something libelous, they could be sued).
Common carriers (like the phone company) had no control over the content, and no responsibility for it, either (you couldn't sue the phone company if someone used the phone to plan a crime, for instance).
Google and their ilk want to have it both ways. They want the full control of publishers, and the zero responsibility of common carriers.
Historically, power without responsibility has invariably been a recipe for abuse.
I think they should have to choose one or the other.
That’s the way it was until the passage of the communications decency act. Early social networks found themselves in a bind in that if they tried to moderate for say, spam, or porn, or copyright infringement, they were then liable for everything their users published. The CDA was an attempt to solve that problem.
Publishers (like newspapers) had full control over their content, and also had full responsibility for it (e.g., if they printed something libelous, they could be sued).
Common carriers (like the phone company) had no control over the content, and no responsibility for it, either (you couldn't sue the phone company if someone used the phone to plan a crime, for instance).
Google and their ilk want to have it both ways. They want the full control of publishers, and the zero responsibility of common carriers.
Historically, power without responsibility has invariably been a recipe for abuse.
I think they should have to choose one or the other.