Keep CDA 230 Out Of Trade Agreements

24 February 2021

To: Senate Committee on Finance

Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. SD-219

Washington, DC 20510-6200

Fr: Gretchen Peters, Executive Director of the Alliance to Counter Crime Online (ACCO)

CC: Founding ACCO Members

Esteemed Senators,

As the founders of the Alliance to Counter Crime Online (ACCO), we urge you to press Katherine Tai, the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, not to export an outdated U.S. tech law currently being debated.

In the past year, legislators on both sides of the aisle have introduced more than one dozen bills to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides a liability shield for tech companies for hosting user-generated content, even when it facilitates serious crime and extremism. Both presidential candidates went further, calling for an outright repeal of the 1996 law, in particular because of the harms caused to children, and the spread of extremist content and illicit drug sales.

Despite the broad, bipartisan concern about CDA 230, the USTR under Ambassador Robert Lighthizer nonetheless included 230-like language in the USMCA deal, which Ms. Tai helped negotiate.

Given the bipartisan support to reform CDA230, American trade negotiators should not include 230-like language in upcoming trade deals, including the one currently being negotiated with the UK.

The U.S. government adopted two decades of trade agreements since CDA 230 was enacted, and never included this language prior to USMCA. The language was added at a time when proposals to amend CDA 230 were gaining steam, and advocates for the tech industry were scrambling to protect it. By adding it to U.S. trade agreements, Silicon Valley sought to effectively enshrine it in international law. One pro-tech industry advocate even wrote that:

“Section 230 stands under threat in the United States … which could escalate into demands that platforms also assume greater responsibility for other types of content ... baking Section 230 into NAFTA may be the best opportunity we have to protect it domestically.”

This cynical ploy by Silicon Valley would cause USTR to restrict the will of Congress, and therefore the will of the American voters. It would be highly inappropriate for USTR to make than possible.

Sincerely,

ACCO Executive Director, Gretchen Peters

On behalf of:

ACCO Founding Member, Dr. Amr al Azm
ACCO Founding Member, Dr. Shawn Graham
ACCO Founding Member, Dr. Damien Huffer
ACCO Founding Member, Dr Tim Mackey
ACCO Founding Member, Kathleen Miles
ACCO Founding Member, Katie Paul
ACCO Founding Member, Sean Williamson