Lesson Plan: Section 230 and Internet Law

Subject:

Government/Civics; US History

Grade Level:

9-12

Lesson Duration:

One class period

Essential Questions:

• How does Section 230 affect what is published on the internet?
• How do policy choices affect internet users and service providers? What effect might changes to those policies have?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Interpret and summarize the purpose of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
• Apply knowledge of Section 230 to different scenarios.
• Construct an argument to either repeal, amend or maintain Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Materials:

• Retro Report video: “Trump and Biden Want to Repeal Section 230. Would That Wreck the Internet?” (Transcript)
• Student Activity handout
• 47 U.S. Code § 230 – Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material | Legal Information Institute

Procedure:

1. Distribute the Student Activity handout and have students (individually or in small groups) read Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Have students provide an annotation of the law.
   1. The goal of this exercise is to have students summarize and translate the legal language into plain language.
2. Have students review the scenarios presented on the handout and determine if the website, app or social media platform is liable or not liable in each scenario.
3. Have students watch the niner-minute Retro Report video “Trump and Biden Want to Repeal Section 230. Would That Wreck the internet?” (Transcript) and then answer the questions on the Student Activity handout.
4. Finally, students will answer the summary question:
   1. Should Section 230 be repealed, amended or kept the same?
   2. Instruct students to provide a direct answer to the question along with supporting details from both the resources in the lesson and their own beliefs and experiences.

Extension Activity:

1. Have students use the following additional resources:
   1. Section 230: Supreme Court skeptical of limiting powerful legal shield for internet companies | CBS News
   2. Section 230, the internet law that’s under threat, explained | Vox
   3. Have students write an amicus brief (brief position paper) for the case Gonzalez v. Google | SCOTUSblog. Students should explain why they are advocating for a repeal of Section 230 or why they advocate keeping Section 230 in place.

About the Author:

Ryan Werenka teaches Social Studies at Troy High School in Troy, Mich., and was named the 2021 Michigan History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Ryan teaches AP US Government and Politics and AP Comparative Government and Politics.

Standards

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

• D2.Civ.9.9-12. Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
• D2.Civ.10.9-12. Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
• D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
• D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.

Common Core Literacy Standards

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).