The following statement is attributed to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, regarding this week’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, “Disinformation Nation: Social Media's Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation." 

“We welcome this hearing on how to reduce disinformation. Whether it originates online, through traditional media, from elected officials or elsewhere, disinformation is a serious concern.  

“As discussions continue, lawmakers should remember that Section 230 plays a vital role in the fight against online disinformation—enabling platforms to remove disinformation and extremist speech without being hauled into court for every moderation decision. With Section 230 weakened or eliminated, it would be vastly more difficult to control and remove misinformation online. 

“Social media platforms are working hard to reduce online disinformation—from employing human reviewers to developing technological algorithms to safeguard users from phishing, conspiracy theories, malware and extremist content. They are also flagging and removing inaccurate material created by foreign governments, issuing fact-checking labels on problematic posts, investing in organizations to help expose misinformation and more.   

“We urge Congress to work with American innovators as they continue the fight online disinformation while preserving laws including Section 230 that allow American entrepreneurs to thrive.”