Salesforce CEO dislikes Section 230, however, his lawyers have another opinion…
rsquo; t Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, an outspoken tech industry figure who is obviously not scared to slam other business leaders, invested all week bashing Facebook over the company’s rejection to moderate specific content on its platform, like political ads that contain lies. He’s on tour promoting his book, Trailblazer and is understandably producing headlines and free promo as a result. However, one strange call to action that Benioff voiced two days ago on Twitter, in favor of abolishing the oft-misunderstood Section 230, may not have been all that well thought out.
That’s due to the fact that, according to BuzzFeed News, Salesforce legal representatives are using Section 230 as a defense in not one, however, seven suits involving the site Backpage, to which Salesforce supposedly offered its cloud-based sales management software application and other services.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the law that keeps tech platforms from being held liable for the material posted by their users, and it’s that exact same law Salesforce legal representatives think will protect it from having supplied technical help to a company that was shut down by the feds for breaking numerous money laundering and prostitution laws.
Facebook is a publisher. They require to be held responsible for propaganda on their platform. We should have requirements & & practices decided by law. FB is the new cigarettes—– it’s addictive, & bad for us, & our kids are being attracted. We need to abolish section 230 Indemnifying them. pic.twitter.com/OHVDVVd1jt!.?.!— Marc Benioff(@Benioff) October 16, 2019 Techdirt creator Mike Masnick initially brought
attention to Salesforce using Section 230 as a legal defense when he called out the obvious hypocrisy on Twitter. Techdirt focuses on the intersection of technology, policy, and law with a concentrate on intellectual home, patents, and copyright, so it's not a surprise Masnick identified it. The following morning, Masnick published more information and individual ideas on his website.