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.

Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act (1996)

These 26 words gave the emergent World Wide Web unprecedented protection against being sued for any libels it published. So Facebook and other social media can shrug off responsibility for spreading lies or other mischief, and conduct only token moderation of harmful material.

Traditional media (newspapers, magazines, films, broadcasts) have no such protection. They have long been compelled to vet the material they publish far more carefully.

Both Republicans and Democrats want to reform the Act. But they can’t agree how.