
How Social Media Moderation Might Be Legislated After the Capitol Attack
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
Calls are mounting among lawmakers to ramp up regulation of social media following the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol last week.
Facebook, Amazon and a slew of other tech companies have locked President Trump's account and given the boot to right-wing site Parler.
But Bay Area Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a Democrat on the Energy and Commerce committee, calls the move by tech giants too little, too late and says "Congress and the administration must take swift and bold action."
"These companies have demonstrated they will not do the right thing on their own," she said.
The problems that social media can create or exacerbate, including spreading misinformation and breeding terrorism, are well known. But it's tricky regulatory territory, cutting across issues of free speech, data privacy, market competition and the responsibility that companies should have over the content on their platforms.
Eshoo sat on the powerful Communications & Technology subcommittee in the last Congressional session, during which she and fellow Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowksi of New Jersey introduced legislation to amend Section 230. The law governs the liability of internet intermediaries including social media companies for the content users publish on their platforms. The amendment would increase sites' liability for how their algorithms spread harmful or radicalizing content that leads to offline violence.
Facebook and Twitter's move to suspend Trump's account, she said, was "a few hours too late to thwart the failed coup attempt...and years too late to avoid the harm done to our democracy."
Eshoo said in a statement she will revive the bill in this legislative session and update it.
The Possible Changes to Section 230
Enacted in 1996 as part of the Communications Decency Act, Section 230 says interactive computer services like social media websites are not to be considered publishers of, and therefore should not be held liable for, the content that appears on their platforms. It also provides cover for "good faith" moderation of content that the provider or users deem objectionable.
Both sides of the political aisle have increasingly taken issue with the legislation, for different reasons.
Democrats tend to criticize 230 for absolving tech companies of the responsibility for policing their platforms. President-elect Biden has called for 230 to be revoked, saying social media companies are "propagating falsehoods they know to be false."
That could backfire, said Ángel Díaz of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy think tank.
"The reality is Section 230 is precisely the law that gives the platforms flexibility to remove posts that may not necessarily be illegal but are objectionable in some way," he said.
President Trump began pushing for a Section 230 repeal after Twitter began fact-checking his tweets. His concerns echoed the objections other Republicans have made to the law, claiming it enables platforms to disproportionately censor conservative voices.
Such concerns speak to one of the thorny issues surrounding content moderation – balancing it with free speech. Although Section 230 aims to provide a legal framework for doing so, it does not specify what should and should not be censored, leaving room for debate of the sort that has unfolded across party lines.
Nor does Section 230 cover all the issues pertinent to potential social media regulation. Since the time the legislation was written, internet companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google have gobbled up huge markets, causing concerns among legislators and observers regarding fair market competition. And concern is growing about these companies' use of consumer data.
"The conversation needs to go beyond 230 to capture these other avenues that are really important for understanding the future of the internet," Díaz said.
Emma Llansó, director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Free Expression Project, said "the attention Congress (and the Biden administration) will be paying will be as strong if not more intense in the wake of what happened at the Capitol."
Congress "needs to identify the specific problems and harms it's trying to address or prevent and come up with tailored legislative proposals."
But, she added, amending 230 alone won't resolve many of these issues and could create bigger problems.
Requiring platforms to moderate content with a fine-tooth comb, for instance, could give more established and better-funded social media sites such as Facebook a leg up on upstarts and make it impossible for new companies to get started.
"If you do regulation like 230 the wrong way you could just entrench the biggest players," Llansó said.
Other Content Moderation Laws in Development
One helpful way forward, said Díaz, could be to mandate more transparency from social media companies about their moderation policies and the outcomes of that moderation. Clearer public data, for example, "would help us get a better understanding of how much of a conservative bias there is or how much hate speech is targeting communities of color and being allowed to stay on the platform," he said.
In California, State Assemblymember Ed Chau of Monterey Park introduced a bill in December to address transparency from social media companies. Assembly Bill 35 would force social media platforms to disclose to users, in an easily accessible way, whether they have a policy or mechanism in place to address the spread of misinformation.
"The rioting upon our nation's Capital...was exacerbated by the spread of falsehoods and misinformation, some of which was disseminated via social media platforms," Chau said in a statement released last week.
"It is vital to ensure that information on these platforms, which many have come to rely upon, is accurate and factual," he said.
The bill would authorize levying $1,000 fines on social media platforms for each day they violate the disclosure requirement. That provision, however, could disproportionately burden smaller companies, Llansó said.
"You could imagine a site that doesn't know about this requirement finding out 90 days after they launch that they owe $90,000 in fines, which would be problematic for a small service," Llansó said, noting that even a blog with a comments section could be subject to the bill in its current form.
Another piece of legislation that may resurface in the new congressional session would establish a bipartisan National Commission on Online Platforms and Homeland Security to explore how social media platforms can spread violence. The bill was introduced by Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson in 2019, and received co-sponsorship from nearly twenty legislators on both sides of the aisle.
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Though Silicon Valley is still very much the capital of venture capital, Los Angeles is home to plenty of VCs who have made their mark – investing in successful startups early and reaping colossal returns for their limited partners.
Who stands out? We thought there may be no better judge than their peers, so we asked 28 of L.A.'s top VCs who impresses them the most.
Mark Mullen, Bonfire Ventures
<p>Mark Mullen is a founding partner of Bonfire Ventures. He is also founder and the largest investor in Mull Capital and Double M Partners, LP I and II. A common theme in these funds is a focus on business-to-business media and communications infrastructures.</p><p>In the past, Mullen has served as the chief operating officer at the city of Los Angeles' Economic Office and a senior advisor to former Mayor Villaraigosa, overseeing several of the city's assets including Los Angeles International Airport and the Los Angeles Convention Center. Prior to that, he was a partner at Daniels & Associates, a senior banker when the firm sold to RBC Capital Markets in 2007.</p>Dana Settle, Greycroft
<p>Dana Settle is a founding partner of Greycroft, heading the West Coast office in Los Angeles. She currently manages the firm's stakes in Anine Bing, AppAnnie, Bird, Clique, Comparably, Goop, Happiest Baby, Seed, Thrive Market, Versed and WideOrbit, and is known for backing female-founded companies.</p><p>"The real change takes place when female founders build bigger, independent companies, like Stitchfix, TheRealReal," she said this time last year in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greycrofts-dana-settle-on-closing-funding-gap-for-female-founders-2019-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an interview with Business Insider</a>. "They're creating more wealth across their cap tables and the cap tables tend to be more diverse, so that gives more people opportunity to become an angel investor." Prior to founding Greycroft, she was a venture capitalist and startup advisor in the Bay Area.</p>Erik Rannala, Mucker Capital
<p>Erik Rannala is a founding partner at Mucker Capital, which he created with William Hsu in 2011. Before founding Mucker, Rannala was vice president of global product strategy and development at TripAdvisor and a group manager at eBay, overseeing its premium features business.</p><p>"As an investor, I root for startups. It pains me to see great teams and ideas collapse under the pressure that sometimes follows fundraising. If you've raised money and you're not sure what comes next, that's fine – I don't always know either," Rannala wrote in <a href="https://www.mucker.com/more-funding-wont-magically-fix-your-startup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a blog post for Mucker</a>. </p><p>Mucker has a portfolio of 61 companies, including Los Angeles-based Honey and Santa Monica-based HMBradley.</p>William Hsu, Mucker Capital
<p>William Hsu is a founding partner at the Santa Monica-based fund Mucker Capital. He started his career as a founder, creating BuildPoint, a provider of workflow management solutions for the commercial construction industry not long after graduating from Stanford. </p> <p><a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3048173/the-unexpected-and-hard-earned-lessons-from-a-dot-com-flame-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In an interview with Fast Company</a>, he shared what he learned in the years following, as he led product teams at eBay, Green Dot and Spot Runner, eventually becoming the SVP and Chief Product Officer of At&T Interactive: "Building a company is about hiring correctly, adhering to a timeline, and rigorously valuing opportunity. It's turning something from inspiration and creative movement into process and rigor."</p> <p>These are the values he looks for in founders in addition to creativity. "I like to see the possibility of each and every idea, and being imaginative makes me a passionate investor."</p>Jim Andelman, Bonfire Ventures
<p>Jim Andelman is a founding partner of Bonfire Ventures, a fund that focuses on seed rounds for business software founders. Andelman has been in venture capital for 20 years, previously founding Rincon Venture Partners and leading software investing at Broadview Capital Partners.<br><br>He's no stranger to enterprise software — he also was a member of the Technology Investment Banking Group at Alex. Brown & Sons and worked at Symmetrix, a consulting firm focusing on technology application for businesses.</p> <p><a href="https://dot.la/la-venture-podcast-jim-andelman-of-bonfire-ventures-2648143780.html" target="_self">In a podcast with LA Venture's Minnie Ingersoll</a> earlier this year, he spoke on the hesitations people have about choosing to start a company.</p>"It's two very different things: Should I coach someone to be a VC or should I coach someone to enter the startup ecosystem? On the latter question, my answer is 'hell yeah!'"Josh Diamond, Walkabout Ventures
<p>Josh Diamond founded Walkabout Ventures, a seed fund that primarily focuses on financial service startups. The firm raised a $10 million fund in 2019 and is preparing for its second fund. Among its 19 portfolio companies is HMBradley, which Diamond helped seed and recently <a href="https://dot.la/hm-bradley-2649022900.html" target="_self">raised $18 in a Series A</a> round.</p><p>"The whole reason I started this is that I saw there was a gap in the funding for early stage, financial service startups," he said. As consumers demand more digital access and transparency, he said the market for financial services is transforming — and Los Angeles is quickly becoming a hub for fintech companies. Before founding Walkabout, he was a principal for Clocktower Technology Ventures, another Los Angeles-based fund with a similar focus.</p>Kara Nortman, Upfront Ventures
<p>Kara Nortman was recently promoted to managing partner at Upfront Ventures, making her one of the few women – along with Settle – to ascend to the highest ranks of a major VC firm.</p><p>Though<a href="https://upfront.com/thoughts/announcing-upfronts-new-co-managing-partner" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Upfront had attempted to recruit her</a> before she joined in 2014, she had declined in order to start her own company, Moonfrye, a children's ecommerce company that rebranded to P.S. XO and merged with Seedling. Upfront invested in the combination, and shortly after, Nortman joined the Upfront team.</p><p>Before founding Moonfrye, she was the SVP and General Manager of Urbanspoon and Citysearch at IAC after co-heading IAC's M&A group.</p><p><a href="https://dot.la/moving-from-the-passenger-seat-to-the-drivers-seat-upfronts-kara-nortman-named-managing-partner-2648493740.html" target="_self">In an interview with dot.LA earlier this year</a>, she spoke on how a focus for her as a VC is to continue to open doors for founders and funders of diverse backgrounds.<br></p><p>"Once you're a woman or a person of color in a VC firm, it is making sure other talented people like you get hired, but also hiring people who are not totally like you. You have to make room for different kinds of people. And how do you empower those people?"<br></p>Brett Brewer, Crosscut Ventures
<p>Brett Brewer is a co-founder and managing director of Crosscut Ventures. He has a long history in entrepreneurship, starting a "pencil selling business in 4th grade." In 1998, he co-founded Intermix Media. Under their umbrella were online businesses like Myspace.com and Skilljam.com. After selling Intermix in 2005, he became president of Adknowledge.com.</p><p>Brewer founded Santa Monica-based Crosscut in 2008 alongside Rick Smith and Brian Garrett. His advice to founders <a href="https://crosscut.vc/team/" target="_blank">on Crosscut's website</a> reflects his experience: "Founders have to be prepared to pivot, restart, expect the unexpected, and make tough choices quickly... all in the same week! It's not for the faint of heart, but after doing this for 20 years, you can spot the fire (and desire) from a mile away (or not)."</p>Eva Ho, Fika Ventures
<p>Eva Ho is a founding partner of Fika Ventures, a boutique seed fund, which focuses on data and artificial intelligence-enabled technologies. Prior to founding Fika, she was a founding partner at San Francisco-based Susa Ventures, another seed-stage fund with a similar focus. She is also a serial entrepreneur, most recently co-founding an L.A. location data provider, Factual. She also co-founded Navigating Cancer, a health startup, and is a founding member of All Raise, a nonprofit that supports and provides resources to female founders and funders.</p><p><a href="https://medium.com/@John_Livesay/when-google-bought-my-startup-81f1ee21488c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In an interview with John Livesay</a> shortly before founding Fika, Ho spoke to how her experience at Factual helped focus what she looks for in founders. "I always look for the why. A lot of people have the skills and the confidence and the experience, but they can't convince me that they're truly passionate about this. That's the hard part — you can't fake passion."</p>Brian Lee, BAM Ventures
<p>Brian Lee is a co-founder and managing director of BAM Ventures, an early-stage consumer-focused fund. <a href="https://dot.la/brian-lee-los-angeles-venture-capital-2645125301.html" target="_self">In an interview with dot.LA earlier this year</a>, Lee shared that he ended up being the first investor in Honey, which was bought by PayPal for $4 billion, through investing in founders and understanding their "vibe."</p> <p>"There's certain criteria that we look for in founders, a proprietary kind of checklist that we go through to determine whether or not these are the founders that we want to back…. [Honey's founders] knew exactly what they were building, and how they were going to get there."</p> <p>His eye for the right vibe in a founder is one gleaned from experience. Lee is a serial entrepreneur, founding LegalZoom.com, ShoeDazzle.com and The Honest Company.</p>Alex Rubalcava, Stage Venture Partners
<p>Alex Rubalcava is a founding partner of Stage Venture Partners, a seed venture capital firm that invests in emerging software technology for B2B markets. Prior to joining, he was an analyst at Santa Monica-based Anthem Venture Partners, an investor in early stage technology companies. It was his first job after graduating from Harvard, and during his time at Anthem the fund was part of Series A in companies like MySpace, TrueCar and Android.</p><p>He has served as a board member in several Los Angeles nonprofits and organizations like KIPP LA Schools and South Central Scholars.</p> <p>"Warren Buffett says that he's a better businessman because he's an investor, and he's a better investor because he's a businessman. I feel the same way about VC and value investing. Being good at value investing can make you good at venture capital, and vice versa," Rubalcava said in <a href="https://moiglobal.com/alex-rubalcava-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an interview with Shai Dardashti of MOI Global</a>.</p>Mark Suster, Upfront Ventures
<p>Mark Suster, managing partner at Upfront Ventures, is arguably L.A.'s most visible VC, frequently posting on Twitter and on his <a href="https://bothsidesofthetable.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blog</a>, not only about investing but also more personal topics like weight loss. In more normal years, he presides over LA's biggest gathering of tech titans, the Upfront Summit. Before Upfront, he was the founder and chief executive officer of two software companies, BuildOnline and Koral, which was acquired by Salesforce. Upfront backed both of his companies, and eventually he joined their team in 2007.</p><p>In a piece for his blog, "Both Sides of the Table," <a href="https://bothsidesofthetable.com/finding-an-investor-who-is-in-love-with-you-d0badf1a3998" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Suster wrote about the importance of passion</a> — not just for entrepreneurs and their businesses, but for the VCs that fund them as well.<br></p><p>"On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I really want to start my journeys only with people with whom I want to work closely with for the next 5–7 years or more. I only want to work on projects in which I believe can produce truly amazing change in an industry or in the world."</p>- Ten Venture Capital Firms Commit to 'Diversity' Rider' - dot.LA ›
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