Major Tech Companies That Aren’t Google Pine for 230
All the other major tech companies with an enormous presence online have a massive stake in keeping 230 alive. Meta, Twitter, and Microsoft all wrote briefs arguing the merits of 230.
Meta and its product Facebook, for one, essentially created the current digital ecosystem that relies upon monetizing user information and giving users a stream of personalized ads. The company argued that it’s “impossible” to operate an online platform without recommending content, comparing it to those who edit a story anthology where editors have to “recommend” a story to appear first in the pages.
“Given the sheer volume of content on the internet, efforts to organize, rank, and display content in ways that are useful and attractive to users are indispensable,” the company wrote.
Twitter noted that when users open up the “following” tab on their apps, the company prioritizes posts from people they follow based on newer content over older content, but the exact way the algorithm worked wouldn’t matter to the outside viewer.
“In such circumstances, any message implied by the selective display of content cannot be distinguished from its mere publication,” the company wrote.
