Washington – Repealing Section 230 would cost investors at least $1.3 trillion amounting to a 2.9% decline in the S&P 500, according to projections in a new study. The research also finds that repealing Section 230 imposes losses on each state’s average retirement savings of at least $9k per saver, as most people’s retirement savings are invested in stock holdings like S&P 500 Index funds, which include the companies targeted by Section 230 repeal in their top holdings.
As for the legal costs, the study finds Section 230 repeal would lead to more than 655,000 lawsuits per year against digital services, and digital services and their users would pay more than $100k in legal fees per case totaling about $65.6 billion per year. The Computer & Communications Industry Association’s Research Center today released the study, “Repealing Section 230 Would Cost Americans Over $1.3 Trillion,” highlighting the negative impacts of repealing Section 230 of the Communications Act.
Currently Section 230 places legal accountability on communicators of speech, rather than the digital services that publish it. It also allows digital services to safely moderate content to protect kids and keep the internet safer.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Chief Economist and Research Center Director Trevor Wagener:
“As lawmakers aim to make the internet safer and more useful, they should consider what opening U.S. companies to more lawsuits for what users say and do online will cost users, tech companies, and investors. It will negatively impact the stock market and personal retirement savings, decimate user-generated content, create significant barriers to entry for new tech startups, overwhelm the court system with new cases, and increase legal costs for digital services.”