Pelosi works to remove legal protections for tech companies from USMCA

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is working to remove legal protections for technology companies from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the eleventh hour as lawmakers push to complete the deal before the end of the calendar year.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have previously raised concerns about including language from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in trade deals, which gives platforms legal immunity for content posted by third-party users while also giving them legal cover to take good-faith efforts to moderate their platforms.

However, Pelosi’s decision to raise the issue significantly elevates its importance.

Section 230 has recently received increased scrutiny from lawmakers as Silicon Valley has fallen out of favor in Washington. Interest in amending or even gutting Section 230 has clashed with the inclusion of similar language in the USMCA and a trade deal with Japan, which Tokyo formally approved Wednesday.

Lawmakers have expressed concern that its inclusion could lock in the law and make it more difficult to alter domestically.

“There are concerns in the House about enshrining the increasingly controversial Section 230 liability shield in our trade agreements, particularly at a time when Congress is considering whether changes need to be made in U.S. law,” a spokesperson for Pelosi told The Hill Thursday.