W.H. Spox: Biden ‘Reviewing’ Changing Law to Make Social Media Liable for Misinformation, ‘They Should Be Held Accountable’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said that the White House is “reviewing” amending Section 230 to hold social media outlets liable for spreading inaccurate information that harms people, “and certainly, they should be held accountable. And I think you’ve heard the president speak very aggressively about this.”

Bedingfield said, “With regard to social media and misinformation, he has raised, we all have a responsibility here, the social media companies have a responsibility, news outlets who are promoting misinformation on their — using their airwaves to promote misinformation have a responsibility. He is going to call it out. He is going to continue to push and we, as an administration, are going to continue to provide good, accurate information, particularly about the vaccine to make sure people get this shot so we can put this pandemic behind us once and for all.”

Co-host Mika Brzezinski then asked, “I’m just wondering if he’s open to amending 230 when Facebook and Twitter and other social media outlets spread false information that cause Americans harm, shouldn’t they be held accountable in a real way? Shouldn’t they be liable for publishing that information and then open to lawsuits?”

Bedingfield responded, “Well, we’re reviewing that, and certainly, they should be held accountable. And I think you’ve heard the president speak very aggressively about this. He understands this is an important piece of the ecosystem. But it’s also, the other thing the president has pointed out and spoke to when he was asked about this yesterday, is it is also the responsibility of the people creating the content. And again, I would go back to, there are conservative news outlets who are creating irresponsible content that’s sharing misinformation about the virus that’s getting shared on these platforms. So, it is a big and complicated ecosystem and everybody bears responsibility to ensure that we are not providing people with bad information about a vaccine that will save their lives.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett