Section 230 repeal hurts small sites, not Big Tech — oppose H.R. 10332/S.3546

I'm writing to urge you to oppose H.R. 10332/S.3546 — the Sunset Section 230 Act. Section 230 is often mischaracterized as a "Big Tech protection," but it safeguards every website, forum, mailing list, and ordinary person who hosts or forwards someone else's words. If it's repealed wholesale with no replacement framework, the practical effect won't fall hardest on Meta or Google — they can afford armies of lawyers. Small community sites, nonprofits, and independent publishers can't. Many will shut off comment sections, demand ID verification from every user, or delete lawful speech at the first complaint. That's not accountability; it's a quieter, more centralized, more surveilled internet. Civil-liberties groups across the political spectrum — from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the Center for Democracy & Technology — have long warned that gutting 230 would chill lawful speech and concentrate power in exactly the platforms critics distrust most. Legal scholars note that repeal would flood courts with litigation, leave states with conflicting content rules, and reward incumbents best able to absorb legal risk. Notably, this approach has drawn bipartisan criticism too: past repeal attempts have failed precisely because lawmakers on both sides recognized the collateral damage to speech and innovation. The privacy stakes matter as well. If hosting others' speech becomes a liability trap, the rational business response is to collect more identity data, log more activity, and pre-screen everything users say. That should concern anyone worried about how much of our lives is already data-mined. If you believe platforms behave badly, there are honest ways to address that — transparency requirements, data portability, competition policy. Repealing Section 230 outright attacks the legal foundation that lets ordinary Americans speak, organize, and publish online at all. Please vote against both H.R. 10332/S.3546, and let your constituents know where you stand.