How Section 230 helped shape speech on the Internet

By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer

Twenty-six words tucked into a 1996 law overhauling telecommunications have allowed companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google to grow into the giants they are today. Two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court being argued this week challenge this law. The outcome could reshape the modern internet. Under the U.S. law, internet companies are generally exempt from liability for the material users post on their networks. Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act — itself part of a broader telecom law — provides a legal “safe harbor” for internet companies.