The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week about social media giants Google and Twitter in a pair of cases that could determine whether the justices effectively rewrite one of the central laws underpinning the modern internet before Congress does.
The two cases, Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, deal with when social media platforms can face suit for content on their platforms. Congress has hotly debated changes for years to a law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, that has given social media companies an immunity from lawsuits that allowed them to flourish.
President Joe Biden has called for changes to the liability under Section 230, and lawmakers from both parties have filed legislation to change the law. But prior efforts have broken down on party lines, with Democrats focused on misinformation and hate speech and Republicans focused on alleged partisan censorship online.
