Twitter Wants Second Child-Porn Case Tossed

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Twitter is trying to beat back a second child-pornography case. The first John Doe lawsuit was filed in January and joined by a second John Doe in April.

Twitter filed a motion to dismiss the case on Friday, claiming immunity, hiding behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

But the lawsuit hits back: 

After John Doe escaped from the manipulation, child sexual abuse material depicting John Doe was disseminated on Twitter. When Twitter was first alerted to this fact and John Doe's age, Twitter refused to remove the illegal material and, instead, continued to promote and profit from the sexual abuse of this child.

A petition to reform Twitter's child-porn policy reports the boy's abuse received 167,000 views and was retweeted 2,237 times.

YouTube commentator David Wood sums up the concern: "Twitter is knowingly hosting and profiting from child pornography. And the only time it bothers them at all is when federal agents or journalists or the courts get involved."

Twitter has a long history of hosting child porn. Nearly 10 years ago, The Guardian, Great Britain's best-known liberal newspaper, was calling out the social media platform "for failing to police child pornography efficiently."

Section 230 shields social-media platforms from lawsuits when their users post illegal content, and because they're private companies, allows them to censor content. But Twitter abuses this power by censoring unequally, banning President Trump while allowing child porn.  

The company removed the illegal content only when it was contacted by law enforcement. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey opposes any reform of Section 230.

Jack Dorsey: "Section 230 is the most important law protecting internet speech. Removing Section 230 will remove speech from the internet."

In late April, Tennessee's junior senator Bill Hagerty introduced the 21st-Century Free Speech Act. The measure would, among other provisions, abolish Section 230.

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