• Section 230 helps make it possible for online communities to host user speech: from restaurant reviews, to fan fiction, to collaborative encyclopedias. • But recent debates about the law often overlook how it works in practice. • To mark its 30th anniversary, EFF is interviewing leaders of online platforms about how they handle complaints, moderate content, and protect their users’ ability to speak and share information. • Yelp hosts millions of reviews written by internet users about local businesses. • Most reviews are positive, but over the years, some businesses have tried to pressure Yelp to remove negative reviews, including through legal threats. • Since its founding more than two decades ago, Yelp has fought major legal battles to defend reviewers’ rights and preserve the legal protections that allow consumers to share honest feedback online.
Article Summaries:
- Yelp’s Chief Legal Officer, Aaron Schur, explains that Section 230 shields the platform from liability for user‑generated reviews, allowing it to keep content posted even when businesses threaten removal. The law also protects consumers, giving them a forum to share honest feedback without fear of platform‑driven censorship. Over two decades, Yelp has litigated to preserve these protections, fighting legal challenges from businesses that attempt to suppress negative reviews. Yelp uses automated systems to highlight trustworthy reviews and weed out fakes, balancing user safety with the platform’s responsibility to moderate content. The interview underscores how Section 230 supports both platform operations and consumer speech.
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