July 26, 2021

United States Senators introduced the Health Misinformation Act bill on Thursday, which will hold Facebook, Twitter and other social media responsible for promoting misinformation in the health field.

Should it become law, the bill will exclude the immunity that Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents internet companies from being held responsible for the content published on their platforms.

However, the draft law is however limited in the sense that the immunity will only be taken into consideration during public health emergencies declared by the Department of Health and Human Services.

It does not prohibit the publication of falsehoods, and platforms will still continue to enjoy the section 230 immunity as long as the platforms display the post using a “neutral mechanism.” Posts shown in chronological order would be an example.

The law should still help to limit the amount of misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine.

For more information, read the original story in Arstechnica.