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If you were one of the millions of people who watched @60Minutes last night ostensibly about Section 230, you were misinformed massively by @ScottPelley. @cbsnews should be ashamed that it misinformed viewers. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210104/01172345990/60-minutes-episode-is-pure-misleading-moral-panic-about-section-230-blames-unrelated-issues-it.shtml
Almost everything about the episode was misleading or outright false. And this is quite hilarious as the reporter on it, Pelly, wrote a book called "The Truth Worth Telling." Last night's reporting was *not* that.
Even worse (or more ironic?) the episode that was pure misinformation... tried to blame misinformation on Section 230. Honestly, about the only misinformation we can blame on 230 is the misinformation *about* 230 that was presented by @ScottPelley on @60Minutes.
The show involved 2 (admittedly awful) stories of people being harassed online and one (also truly horrific) story of a father who was upset that video of his daughter's murder were visible online. The show repeatedly blames 230 for all 3 situations, but...
... only towards the end mentions that all of the content complained about WAS TAKEN DOWN by social media companies. Which is WHAT SECTION 230 enables. That is not mentioned. Not once...
The show also talks about "anonymous internet trolls" but in connection to the harassment of one family, in which 60 Minutes itself NAMES THE PERSON WHO WAS BEHIND THE ABUSE (meaning it wasn't an anonymous internet troll).
The fact that people are assholes online is NOT A SECTION 230 issue. Not once does @ScottPelley bother to inform people that nearly all of the speech he complains about is PROTECTED BY THE 1st AMENDMENT, not Section 230. It's kind of a key point.
And the one bit of content that might not be protected by the 1st Amendment (legitimate death threats) is a CRIMINAL ISSUE that is also not protected by 230. His real complaint should be that law enforcement ignored those threats. Instead he falsely blames 230.
Over the years, I've seen a ton of terrible reporting on Section 230. @ScottPelley on @60Minutes last night may have been the worst I've ever seen. @CBSNews should pull the show, issue a retraction and an apology. It was garbage reporting, and blatant misinformation.
In the end, this is a news program and a news show legitimately complaining about 1st Amendment protected speech, which is quite incredible for a company that often has to assert its own 1st Amendment rights.
And that's not even mentioning the fact that at the end Pelley randomly tosses in a line about antitrust, as if that's related to Section 230 (it's not). The whole thing is garbage, as my article describes: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210104/01172345990/60-minutes-episode-is-pure-misleading-moral-panic-about-section-230-blames-unrelated-issues-it.shtml
