I once heard a story about the days of the industrial revolution. There was a factory in England that spoiled the apple crops of some local farmers. When those farmers brought the factory owner to court, the judge ruled that the economic advantage of the factory owner took precedence over their claims of damages. Hence, they were refused justice. I suspect that’s only one page out of a long, long history of government corruption in the name of “the greater good.”

The 90s-era Communications Decency Act is just another example of this corruption. The stated purpose of the law was to protect “the little guy” from liability. The result, just over 20 years later (roughly, a generation), has been that “the little guy” is subject to massive liability. We may not have been able to predict that it would have manifested in sweeping censorship, but this result is ultimately unsurprising.

I support Senator Hawley’s proposal to rein in the social media titans. Ultimately, nobody should be shielded from liability, but that kind of corruption runs very deep in our society, so I’m happy to take a small step in the right direction.