EFF Opposes California Initiative That Would Cause Mass Censorship
BY JOE MULLINFEBRUARY 23, 2024
In recent years, lots of proposed laws purport to reduce “harmful” content on the internet, especially for kids. Some have good intentions. But the fact is, we can’t censor our way to a healthier internet.
When it comes to online (or offline) content, people simply don’t agree about what’s harmful. And people make mistakes, even in content moderation systems that have extensive human review and appropriate appeals. The systems get worse when automated filters are brought into the mix–as , when moderating content at the vast scale of the internet.
Recently, EFF weighed in against an especially vague and poorly written proposal: California Ballot Initiative 23-0035, written by Common Sense Media. It would allow for plaintiffs to sue online information providers for damages of up to $1 million if it violates “its responsibility of ordinary care and skill to a child.”
We sent a public comment to California Attorney General Rob Bonta regarding the dangers of this wrongheaded proposal. While the AG’s office does not typically take action for or against ballot initiatives at this stage of the process, we wanted to register our opposition to the initiative as early as we could.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/02/eff-opposes-california-initiative-would-cause-mass-censorship
