International Politics

[benji]

the US is a welcoming harbor for tons of web-based businesses and services due to unique conveniences like section 230, which is probably why various interests keep trying to tear it down

The EU doesn't have one last I knew but most EU countries have their own version of Section 230. I think some places like Sweden (but don't hold me to this specific country) have even stronger ones.

Section 230 isn't an unique chosen policy, it was an attempt to fix a part of the common law that Congress broke unintentionally.

That false "publisher" distinction all the right-wing morons make actually stems from this, non-publishers have never been liable for the speech of others. Publishing means something specific. Congress didn't take care of this distinction so ISP's were being held liable for things that users were posting simply because they provided the means for people to post, so Section 230 had to be rushed into existence.

Most countries simply copied what the US had done first when writing their internet laws.

Notice who is getting prosecuted for hate speech in those non-free countries, it's not the companies who provide the means of communication, it's the end user. Their Section 230 equivalents protect the companies.