Elon Musk Has the Option to Fight for the Internet, or He Can Continue Playing Games.

All this is in addition to Mr. Musk’s slew of suggestions for changing how Twitter selects which content to label, remove or investigate. He proposes an oversight board to review takedowns; an open-sourced algorithm that sorts through user posts; and options for users to decide how much Twitter should censor their content. Although these are not necessarily bad ideas they do not seem to be well-thought out. Musk appears to be recognized in real-time the trade-offs between safety, speech and moneymaking inherent in social media — tradeoffs that industry veterans took a decade to understand but are now being faced.

The Supreme Court of the United States is set to hear multiple cases concerning Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

While social media platforms are being criticized by governments all over the globe, including in Canada, Britain, and India, regulations are being imposed on speech types that platforms are allowed to allow.  This section, which was the 26 words that created the internet and gave sites immunity from most of the content they posted, will be heard by the Supreme Court. Twitter is involved in one of these cases. It asks whether platforms are liable for terrorist propaganda posted on their websites. Another case addresses the same question, but with a greater focus on algorithms, social media sites use for recommending content to users. There are also legal issues to Florida laws that could stop platforms removing certain posts.

Anything less than the most thoughtfully considered reforms could have massive unintended effects. They might cause litigation-wary sites or other websites to moderate content more aggressively, or even stop moderating altogether since moderation can expose them to liability. Many proposals from abroad have similar side effects and risks.

These threats are a reminder to Mr. Musk that he should continue Twitter’s legal battle at The Supreme Court and resist regulators from clamping down on him. He should be less reactive to random tweets and investigate individual grievances that he finds compelling. Instead, he should focus on the creation of thoughtful rules.

If social media platforms are not trying to be responsible, it will be harder to persuade governments to adopt nuanced laws that protect their ability to manage their properties responsibly. Section 230 created an internet that allowed platforms to experiment, evolve, and learn. This is what Musk should be doing now instead of playing games.