Exclusive – Mike Braun: ‘Definitely’ a Parallel Between Section 230, Qualified Immunity Protections

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that there is “definitely” a parallel between Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and qualified immunity, contending that big tech and law enforcement both need “transparency and accountability.”

Braun told Breitbart News about his Reforming Qualified Immunity Act, which would reform law enforcement’s qualified immunity legal protections to open them up to civil lawsuits. Braun said that increasing legal liability for law enforcement would increase accountability for America’s police officers.

He also said that there is “definitely” a parallel between qualified immunity and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, in which the Hoosier senator contended that granting excessive legal immunity would lead to abuse to the people or organizations that receive that executive immunity.

Section 230 protects big tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter as long as they show they exhibited “good faith” for filtering or removing content that is “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, or otherwise objectionable.”

Braun told Breitbart News, “I think that whenever you amass power to the extent of big tech, where there’s no competition, I don’t like that. I think that needs to be addressed. I think that some of their preferential treatment needs to be looked at as well. Or, if you have police unions become so strong that they can protect — I think, in either case, it’s not in the best interest of those entities to do so — because sooner or later that will come home to roost.”

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently wrote a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai, expressing concern that the “good faith” clause is too “vague.”

Braun noted that “the rest of society” does not have big tech’s or law enforcement’s legal immunities.

“I think in the long run, it all falls apart sooner or later because they are not solid principles,” he added.   

Braun has long advocated for transparency and accountability in health care and other sectors of society; he said that big tech and police could benefit from increased accountability and transparency.

“I think we can’t be selective; we need to apply the principles of transparency and accountability across the board, whether it’s big tech, police, any other segment of society, and especially groups we generally side with,” Braun said.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.