Assembly urges Congress to reexamine Section 230, citing online harms to youth

Assemblymember Bauer Kehane introduced HR 117, a resolution urging Congress to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and to consider the bipartisan Sunset Section 230 Act to create a window for targeted reform.

Bauer Kehane described cross‑party agreement on the need for reform and recounted a personal account from Rep. Duffy of South Carolina about the harms of sextortion that helped shape the panel discussion. "Its expansive grant of immunity has enabled some of history's most profitable companies to disregard or even facilitate foreseeable harms as an acceptable cost of growth," Bauer Kehane said.

Several lawmakers spoke in support. Assemblymember Pappen said tech-heavy districts experience harms that merit guardrails, and Assemblymember Lowenthal and others described legal and mental-health harms to youth tied to platform algorithms. Assemblymember Dixon, a joint author, noted broad harms that have persisted while courts interpreted Section 230 protections expansively.

The Assembly adopted HR 117 by voice vote and added dozens of coauthors; sponsors said the resolution calls on Congress to begin a structured federal process to modernize immunity while preserving what works.