Washington – In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, the Computer & Communications Industry Association said digital services making content moderation decisions is a First Amendment right and does not conflict with the FTC’s mission of protecting consumers and competition. The FTC issued the request for comments on content moderation decisions online amid continuous debate on the issue of whether governments should have more or less control of content online. Digital services have been criticized in recent years over both decisions to take down and leave up content and disputes have made it to the Supreme Court.
CCIA has supported federal laws that protect communications from government interference, including the First Amendment, for more than 50 years.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President and CEO Matt Schruers:
“Digital services are in the trenches every day fighting to protect users from dangerous actors online. This important safety work is necessary to compete and to build online communities that people want to use.
“Regulations that prevent this important work will leave Americans worse off and make the nation poorer.”