Section 230 and Intermediary Liability

Intermediary liability is the question of when an online service can be held responsible for what its users post. A federal law generally shields services from being treated as the publisher of that content. It also protects services that remove certain content in good faith. Congress wrote it, federal and state courts interpret it, and it is central to how the modern internet operates.

Readers usually want to know what this law protects and what it does not. They ask when a company can still be held responsible, how courts treat claims based on product design, and why lawmakers and commentators disagree about whether the law should change.