Hillary Clinton warns that allowing free speech on social media means ‘we lose control’

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday that social media companies must moderate content on their platforms or else “we lose total control.”

Clinton told CNN host Michael Smerconish that while there have been some steps taken at the state level to regulate social media, she wants to see more done by the federal government to moderate content.

“We can look at the state of California, the state of New York, I think some other states have also taken action,” Clinton said.

“But we need national action, and sadly, our Congress has been dysfunctional when it comes to addressing these threats to our children,” she added.

Clinton said she believes the issue should be “at the top of every legislative political agenda” and called for the repealing of Section 230 of the Communications Act, which protects online platforms from being held liable for third-party content, such as user content on social media. This immunity applies to the content itself and the removal of content in certain circumstances.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a panel at the Vital Voices Global Festival on May 05, 2023 in Washington, DC. Getty Images

“We should be, in my view, repealing something called Section 230, which gave, you know, platforms on the internet immunity because they were thought to be just pass-throughs, that they shouldn’t be judged for the content that is posted,” Clinton said.

“But we now know that that was an overly simple view, that if the platforms, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter/X or Instagram or TikTok, whatever they are, if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control,” she continued. “And it’s not just the social and psychological affects, it’s real life.”

Clinton said the social media companies should have their immunity stripped so “guardrails” could be implemented.

“We need national action, and sadly, our Congress has been dysfunctional when it comes to addressing these threats to our children,” she said. Viktor – stock.adobe.com

She said that cellphones should be restricted in schools, an effort that has been approved by several states in the U.S., including Florida and California. Individual school districts in various states across the country have also adopted policies banning or limiting cellphone use during school hours.

“Take phones out of schools,” she said. “I’m so happy to see schools beginning to do that, where the kids turn their phone in when they walk in the door.”

“And guess what? Kids are paying better attention in class,” Clinton added. “They are talking to each other in the lunchroom, things that used to be part of your daily life when you were a child in school.”

Last month, Clinton suggested during an appearance on MSNBC that Americans accused of interfering in U.S. elections by spreading “propaganda” promoting former President Trump should be civilly or even criminally charged, as she cited the 2016 election in which she lost to Trump.