Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the TAKE IT DOWN Act
The Communications Decency Act (CDA, 1996) is Title V of the Telecommunications Act, and its Section 230 provides that an Interactive Computer Service shall not be treated as the publisher or speaker of content provided by another party, immunizing online platforms from liability for user-generated content. The TAKE IT DOWN Act (2025) carves out a new exception by criminalizing nonconsensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes.
The Communications Decency Act (CDA, 1996) is Title V of the Telecommunications Act. Its most consequential surviving provision, Section 230, states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." In practice this immunizes online platforms from liability for content posted by their users, and it was enacted to encourage the growth of the internet.
Section 230's core effect is that a platform is not treated as the publisher or speaker of its users' content. A traditional publisher (such as a newspaper) can be held liable for what it prints; an interactive computer service generally cannot be held liable for what third parties post on it.
Section 230(c)(2) adds a "Good Samaritan" protection: platforms are shielded for the good-faith removal or restriction of objectionable third-party content. This means a platform does not lose its immunity simply because it moderates, filters, or takes down material it considers objectionable.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act (2025) criminalizes the distribution of nonconsensual intimate imagery ("revenge porn"), including AI-generated and deepfake images. It does not directly amend Section 230, but it creates a new exception: such imagery counts as illegal material that Section 230 does not protect, and platforms must remove it on notice.