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Bipartisan lawmakers want to strip Big Tech’s legal immunity that can shield social media companies
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It was the mid-1990s. And the world was online.
No doomscrolling for hours through Instagram and X.
But people were plowing through GeoCities. There were Hotbot searches – before the days of Google and AI. There was even Ask Jeeves, long before Grok.
The U.S. Capitol building is shown in Washington, D.C. A Romanian man admitted to participating in a series of «swatting» calls that targeted members of Congress, as well as other government officials. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Congress was on the precipice of adopting a landmark telecommunications law which would dictate the digital landscape for decades.
When signing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law, former President Clinton declared how the measure would plow «a superhighway to serve both the private sector and the public interest.»
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Yup. Back then, some still referred to the internet as «The Information Superhighway.»
The 1990s were heady. Full of optimism and possibility. The. U.S. won the Cold War. The economy boomed and was «new.» The internet linked the world.
But there was a serious debate about free speech. Who should regulate what was online? Should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) address what was proper to post, the same way it oversaw the TV and radio airwaves?
In the early ‘90s, the National Security Agency (NSA) used a cryptographic backdoor to intercept phone calls called the «clipper chip.» That raised questions about government surveillance. Would that carry over to what the government «watched» when people posted content online?
A U.S. National Security Agency logo is displayed on a smartphone screen with stock market percentages in the background in this photo illustration on Jan. 30, 2024, in Poland. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)
Congress ultimately decided to give the internet a lot of leeway – in the interest of free speech. Telecommunications firms persuaded lawmakers to grant them a legal shelter. «Carriers» weren’t responsible if «customers» posted questionable or offensive material.
«We said that the FCC would not regulate either the content or the character of the internet,» said then- Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) during a 1995 floor debate. «We can’t have the government in the interest of uniformity coming up with standards to regulate this industry.»
Cox was a key player behind shaping policy in that 1996 telecommunications law. So was then-Rep. and now Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
«The internet is the shining star of the information age,» proclaimed Wyden in 1996.
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But the Oregon Democrat fretted about some of the filth which was already permeating the internet in its earliest renditions.
«My wife and I have seen our kids find their way into these chat rooms which make their middle age parents cringe,» said Wyden.
But like Cox, Wyden feared that «censorship could really spoil much of its promise.»
So they fought to keep some government regulation out of the telecommunications law. And they inoculated internet providers with something called «Section 230» of that law. Section 230 shielded telecom firms with immunity from lawsuits and criminal charges based on what customers posted on their forums.
Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) described the logic behind Section 230 and the role of service providers:
«If you, as a public service, put up a billboard in a hall and someone puts something on the billboard that says, ‘Congressman Obernolte beats his wife,’ the owner of the billboard is not responsible for the content of that message,» said the California Republican.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., attends a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands hearing on the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Act and other legislation in the Longworth Building on Dec. 7, 2021. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)
But lots of people and entities post all sorts of things on today’s worldwide «billboard.» That’s why some lawmakers want to fundamentally alter social media as we know it by paring back Section 230.
«Section 230 is absolute liability protection, immunity for the largest social media companies in the world. It’s driving people to suicide. It is ruining our society,» said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the most ardent advocates for changing the law. «If you buy a bad car, you can sue. Every product you buy, the company has to stand behind it. This is the only area of the law I know where the largest companies in the world have absolute legal immunity.»
Graham went as far to suggest that what is available online – and how people use social media – is «as dangerous as drinking.»
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«It’s putting profits over people,» chimed in Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). «(Social media) should not have this absolute shield when it is destroying the lives of young people by driving toxic content at them through its algorithms.»
Bipartisan lawmakers are boiling about what social media firms allow users to post without legal consequences – even though Congress is partially responsible for creating this problem three decades ago.
«As long as these companies believe they’re immune from liability, they’re going to tell all of us to go to hell,» said Graham.
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Some lawmakers want to strip legal immunity from Big Tech for what winds up on their platforms.
«What we ought to do is start by allowing victims of child porn and other child abuse material and sexual abuse material to sue these companies,» said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
Lawmakers believed that enhanced opportunities for voices and speech would enable the internet to flourish. They argued that the free market would create a rich environment online. So they sidelined their instincts to overregulate.
«Government is going to get out of the way and let parents and individuals control it rather than government doing that job for us,» said Cox in 1995.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol during votes on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But lofty hopes for a lush «marketplace of ideas» online are dashed by some of the digital slop – and addictive nature of «phones» today.
«You talk to people and they’re scared to death of social media. They’re scared to death of AI,» said
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
That’s why lawmakers demand changes to Section 230.
One lawmaker says free speech safeguards are crucial for the people deciding what users see online. But not the technology behind it. Today, the technology makes many of those decisions about what we see and hear on our phones.
«If you just have an algorithm spewing all this information..» sighed Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). «The First Amendment doesn’t protect an algorithm.»
In 1996, Ron Wyden told C-SPAN during an interview that «censorship could really spoil much of (the internet’s) promise.»
And in 2026, Wyden is still leery of infringing on free speech through regulation. He says the hands-off approach helped the development of Wikipedia and the social media platform Bluesky. A more aggressive posture could stifle development.
«To get rid of (Section) 230, you’re going to have to roll over me,» said Wyden this year.
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In 2026, people are struggling to harness the technology. Trying to ween themselves off addiction to phones. Figuring out ways to keep kids from phones in order to build reading and vocabulary skills.
The digital optimism of the mid-1990s is gone. And those who were there are nostalgic for the sound of an old, staticky modem and the delightful proclamation that «you’ve got mail.»
first amendment, big tech backlash, technology, fcc, regulation, politics
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DOJ warns former red state is becoming the next California as governor embraces ICE limits
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is warning that Virginia risks becoming «the next California» in the Trump administration’s fight against resistance to federal immigration enforcement after filing a new lawsuit last week.
«We are suing Virginia to prevent Virginia from becoming the next sanctuary jurisdiction, just like California,» DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Brett Shumate told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.
The lawsuit, first shared with Fox News Digital earlier in June, argues Virginia is violating the Constitution by trying to regulate federal law enforcement operations, including restrictions on agents’ masks, identification requirements and conditions on local cooperation with ICE.
«Under our Constitution, the states do not get to regulate or dictate how the federal government performs its duties, and that is especially the case when it comes to law enforcement. Virginia passed two bills in this newest session, one that restricts the ability of law enforcement officers to wear facial coverings and requires officers, federal agents, to wear identification badges,» said Shumate.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
He said the other bill «restricts cooperation agreements between local law enforcement agencies, like sheriffs, and ICE to voluntarily cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.»
The lawsuit names Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and left-wing Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano — who was previously backed by groups connected to George Soros.
While DOJ has not heard back from state officials, Shumate shared that the department feels confident about the previous case due to precedent.
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A redistricting failure is another headache for newly-elected Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
«We brought a nearly identical lawsuit against California earlier this year, and we won that case,» he said.
In April, a federal appeals court handed the Trump administration a legal victory over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The court blocked California from requiring federal immigration agents to display identification during operations.
He says they are asserting the same legal theory in this case.
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Anti-ICE agitators attempted to block vehicles from leaving the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday night. (FreedomNewsTV)
«Under the Constitution, the Supremacy Clause in particular, the states do not get to regulate or discriminate against the federal government,» said Shumate. «That’s exactly what Virginia has done. They have attempted to regulate how the federal goes about its business. They do not have the authority to do that under the constitution.»
The two Virginia laws are set to take effect July 1 and Shumate shared the DOJ plans to move quickly to a district court judge to enjoin these laws from taking effect. Virginia was previously a solidly red state, voting for Republicans in nearly every presidential election for decades before shifting to the left in the last roughly 20 years.
«We will be filing very quickly in the district Court in Virginia to seek an injunction to stop these laws from taking effect, which these laws have criminal penalties that put federal agents at risk, not only of criminal prosecution, but also at risk of doxing and harassment,» he added.
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ICE has defended the practice of agents concealing their identities during operations, saying last summer as Trump’s intensifying immigration crackdown prompted anti-ICE protests and riots that rhetoric on the left had caused a spike in «threats and assaults against [agents’] families.»
Shumate shared the department is looking at several bills in other states that are considering mask restrictions.
«Any state that’s considering passing this type of bill is on notice that we will file a lawsuit and we will ask for an injunction to block those laws from taking effect,» said Shumate.
virginia, justice department, immigration, california, sanctuary cities
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces potential leadership challenge from newly-elected Andy Burnham
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Andy Burnham has officially won his special election and regained a seat in Parliament, setting him up to challenge the deeply unpopular Keir Starmer as the leader of the Labour party and as prime minister.
Burnham, currently the mayor of Greater Manchester in northwest England, won a seat in Makerfield and came away with 55% of the vote in a field of more than a dozen candidates, according to The Associated Press. The runner-up was Rob Kenyon of Reform UK, a right-wing populist party, who received more than 9,000 fewer votes than Burnham.
Burnham last served as a member of Parliament in 2017 but strongly implied in his victory speech that he is returning with the intention to lead the United Kingdom.
«Everyone knows that politics isn’t working. Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point,» he said, according to the AP. «This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody.»
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Britain’s Labour party candidate Andy Burnham speaks to supporters after the Makerfield by-election in Ashton in Makerfield, England, on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Jon Super/AP)
This special election, called by-elections in Britain, was unusually significant because the area’s Labour MP, Josh Simons, intentionally resigned to allow Burnham to win the seat and pursue leadership.
The potentially outsized impact of this election was juxtaposed with the strange scene that unfolded when all the candidates gathered on Friday morning to hear the results. Burnham stood in between an independent candidate dressed in a fox costume and another candidate known as «Count Binface».
As his name suggests, «Count Binface,» whose real name is Jonathan David Harvey, was wearing a trash can on his head and regularly runs in U.K. elections to advocate for increased voter turnout.
Starmer congratulated Burnham in a social media post on X, saying voters «chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.»
When asked about Burnham’s intentions to oust him as leader, Starmer said he will fight to remain prime minister, a position he has held for nearly two years.
«I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away from that,» Starmer told reporters.
Labour party candidate Andy Burnham, center, stands with other candidates on the podium at the Edge Wigan, awaiting the Makerfield by-election result announcement in Wigan, England, on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Jon Super/AP)
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Starmer led the Labour party to a landslide victory in July 2024 and ever since, his popularity has been eroding thanks to a persistently high cost of living, an anemic economy and a scandal over his willingness to accept gifts from wealthy donors.
Last September, Starmer was slammed for appointing Peter Mandelson as the British ambassador to the United States, when it was known as early as 2019 that Mandelson had a friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Following an enormous public backlash, Mandelson was quickly dismissed from his post.
With Starmer as leader, Labour is increasingly losing liberal-minded voters to the Green Party, while also facing stronger challenges by Reform UK, a Nigel Farage-led party that advocates against mass migration and in favor of tighter border controls. Farage, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said he was disappointed by Burnham’s victory.
Burnham is expected to head to London to be sworn in as soon as Monday. Under the British parliamentary system, the governing party can hold leadership elections in the middle of the term. The winner of such a contest can become prime minister without there having to be a national election.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer awaits Switzerland’s Federal President Guy Parmelin on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (Isabel Infantes/Pool Reuters via AP)
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Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they win the backing of a fifth of their party’s members in the House of Commons. Burnham has enough lawmakers on board to trigger a leadership contest, according to a report from The New Statesman.
According to the AP, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Burnham and Starmer will «have a conversation about what comes next» in the next few days.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
united kingdom, elections, politics
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