If Then: The Cost of Online Immunity

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about a somewhat surprising speech from the antitrust chief of Trump’s DOJ. They bring you up to date on a big new data privacy bill in Congress, and Mike Nuñez, a journalist for Mashable, joins the show to discuss how his reporting on alleged liberal bias at Facebook has sparked a somewhat bizarre Congressional inquiry. The hosts are also joined by Dr. Mary Anne Franks, a professor of law at the University of Miami Law School, where she teaches criminal law, First Amendment law, and Technology policy. They speak about the massively important Communications Decency Act, which was just amended to allow victims of sex trafficking to sue websites that knowingly facilitate it. And as always, “Don’t Close My Tabs,” the Sean Hannity/Jeff Bezos edition. Timestamps: 1:40 DOJ Antitrust Speech 6:15 New data privacy bill 11:13 Diamond and Silk on Capitol Hill: phone call with Mashable’s Michael Nuñez 20:55 Zillow clarification regarding last week’s show 22:14 Interview: Professor Mary Anne Franks on amending the CDA to fight sex trafficking 44: 08 Don’t Close My Tabs Don’t Close My Tabs Links: KQED: How Sean Hannity Began His Path to Punditry on Santa Barbara Community Radio Washingtonian: Here Are the Floor Plans for Jeff Bezos’s $23 Million DC Home Podcast production by Max Jacobs. If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at [email protected]. If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.