The Supreme Court will hear two cases this week that have major implications for the future of the internet. Google and Twitter are both facing lawsuits by families of victims killed in separate ISIS attacks, challenging the tech companies’ legal immunity for what users post on platforms granted through Section 230.

Section 230 has been a foundational pillar of the internet since 1996 and never before has it been under such scrutiny.

Explaining Section 230

Section 230 lays out two critical principles for online platforms. The first is that companies are not liable for harmful content posted on their sites. In other words, if a person wants to sue over a specific post, they can sue the person who posted it, not the platform. This rule applies to everything from the biggest tech giant to the smallest neighborhood messaging board.

The second is that companies can remove content they see as offensive or dangerous, also without legal liability, considering they do so “in good faith.” This section, under the “Good Samaritan” clause, applies to content that is, “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.”

Political divide on ‘Good Samaritan’ clause

This was meant to promote sensible content moderation. But as the internet and its role in everyday life has evolved, politicians from both parties have issue with how it’s carried out. Some on the Left believe Big Tech doesn’t go far enough with moderating and removing this type of content.

“Section 230 should be revoked immediately,” President Joe Biden said during his 2020 campaign for the presidency. “Because it is not merely an internet company, it is propagating falsehoods they know to be false,” he said, mentioning Meta in particular.

But some on the Right have also called for its repeal, believing Big Tech takes censorship too far.

“Republicans, conservatives, must open up our platforms and repeal Section 230 liability protections,” former President Donald Trump said in 2021, after his account was banned from multiple platforms.

And while Congress could decide to reform Section 230, the lawsuits facing the Supreme Court this week attempt to shatter the shield that has protected internet companies for nearly three decades.

Gonzalez v. Google

The family of American college student Nohemi Gonzalez, who was one of 130 killed in the Paris terror attacks in 2015, argues that YouTube failed to take down ISIS terrorist videos and even recommended them to some users. Any decision that holds Google liable would have far-reaching consequences for companies that use algorithms for recommendations.

The federal district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals both sided with Google, agreeing Section 230 immunizes the company against liability. However, the Ninth Circuit majority did bring up “concerns about the breadth of 230,” but deferred to Congress to reform the “sweeping scope.”

The Supreme Court agreed to review the case following a petition from the plaintiffs.

Twitter Inc. v. Taamneh

The family of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian citizen who was killed in a 2017 attack at an Istanbul nightclub, said Twitter, Google and Facebook acted as a messaging platform for the gunman, whom ISIS allegedly recruited and directed to carry out the massacre.

After a district court dismissed the family’s claims, Taamneh appealed and refocused its complaint on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act and Anti-Terrorism Act, claiming that Twitter was aware of terrorist content on its platform and failed to prevent its dissemination.

Lawyers for companies in both cases argue there is no direct causal link between the websites and the two terror attacks.

Judicial desire to reform

While the Ninth Circuit deferred to Congress on limiting the scope of Section 230, conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly challenged 230’s interpretation in the past.

In a 2020 denial of certiorari, Thomas wrote, “But many courts have construed the law broadly to confer sweeping immunity on some of the largest companies in the world.”

“Extending §230 immunity beyond the natural reading of the text can have serious consequences,” he added. “We need not decide today the correct interpretation of §230. But in an appropriate case, it behooves us to do so.”

But just as there is bipartisan support for restructuring 230, there is bipartisan siding with Big Tech. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and former Republican Rep. Christopher Cox last month filed a brief in support of Google, saying if the court ruled against it, “platforms would be subject to liability for their decisions to present or not to present third-party content — the very actions that Congress intended to insulate from liability.”

A decision on both cases should come this summer.

New York Fashion week wrapped up Wednesday but the hottest fashion trend of the week didn’t hit the runway. The most talked-about wearable sensation is boots made by Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF. The collective is known for taking shots at consumerism in creative ways. Here are some of the wildest MSCHF drops in this week’s Five for Friday.

#5: Satan Shoes

Sneaker culture is somewhat of a poster child for consumerism habits. After all, hyped sneakers are released in limited quantities and become a status symbol for the lucky people able to get their hands on them. MSCHF took it to a whole new level with the 2021 release of its “Satan Shoes.” MSCHF made just 666 pairs of custom Nike Air Max 97s that had a mixture of blood and ink in the air bubbles. The sneakers were released in collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X following the release of his music video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name), which featured the artist giving a lap dance to the devil. This caused an uproar with people even calling for a Nike boycott in response. But it turns out, Nike wasn’t even in on the collaboration and sued MSCHF. In the end, the art collective settled with the sneaker giant and agreed to refund the $1,018 purchase price for a return.

#4: Cuss Collar

The pet accessories market is expected to reach $42.3 billion by 2026. It makes sense that MSCHF would try to capitalize on the push for outrageous pet products. MSCHF’s Cuss Collar, when strapped on to a dog, emits an audible curse word every time the dog barks. They made sure to note that it’s not intended as a training collar and won’t shock your furry friend. The Cuss Collar retailed for $60 and it sold out immediately.

#3: Jesus Shoes

There’s no Yin without Yang so there can’t be Satan Shoes without Jesus Shoes. The air bubbles in these all-white Nike Air Max 97s were filled with 60 cc of water from the River Jordan that was blessed by a priest. They came well before their counterpart and didn’t gain nearly as much attention as the Satan Shoes. MSCHF said at the time that collaboration culture had gotten out of hand with items like the Adidas x AriZona Iced Tea products. These were made in a very limited quantity at $1,425 per pair. The price was a reference to the Bible verse Matthew 14:25, which was when Jesus walked on water.

#2: Key4All

MSCHF isn’t just about crazy products. Sometimes they like to make a game of things. With Key4All, they sold 1,000 keys to a single car for just $20 each. No one knew the make or model, just that it was left somewhere in New York City. If you had a fob and found the vehicle, it was yours to drive. After starting as an inconspicuous wood-paneled 2008 PT Cruiser, the car is now covered with stickers and graffiti and has traveled throughout the United States. MSCHF says the car will stay out there until it’s destroyed or impounded.

#1: Big Red Boots

The name says it all. MSCHF calls them “cartoon boots for a cool 3D world.” The Big Red Boots were released Thursday with a price tag of $350. They’ve been compared to Astro Boy’s boots and the shape of Apple’s AirPods. MSCHF built up hype for the boots in the last few weeks with celebrities like Diplo, Lil Wayne and NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sporting them in public. They’ve certainly started a lot of internet chatter since being announced.

Over 20 years, Congress has raised, suspended and reinstated the debt ceiling two dozen times, going from under $6 trillion to $31.4 trillion. Now, sometime between July and September, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts the U.S. will run out of funds. But the nonpartisan office warns it could happen even sooner.

“For example, if capital gains realizations in 2022 were smaller, or if U.S. income growth slowed by more early this year than we project, the extraordinary measures could be exhausted sooner and the Treasury could run out of funds before July,” Director Phillip Swagel said.

Congress will need to raise or suspend the debt ceiling to avoid an economic calamity this year. But what about down the road?

The CBO now projects the U.S. will run an annual deficit of $2 trillion per year between 2024 and 2033. The total over the decade is $3 trillion more than CBO projected just last spring.

By 2033, CBO says the deficit will account for 6.9% of GDP, nearly double the 3.6% average from the past 50 years.

Swagel said there are two primary drivers for debt outpacing revenues and the economy. The first is the growing cost of interest payments, exacerbated by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. Since March 2022, the Fed has raised its overnight lending rate eight times with more hikes expected in 2023.

The second driver, Swagel said, is entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“We have the trust fund now exhausted within the 10-year window, so if nothing is done on Social Security, if nothing is done on entitlements, every beneficiary will see a reduction of their benefits of more than 20% than what’s promised,” he said on CNBC. “So doing nothing does not save Social Security, it does the opposite.”

Yet leaders from both parties say Social Security and Medicare should not be a part of current debt ceiling negotiations.

In a letter to the transportation company Norfolk Southern, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the hazardous materials released in the Ohio train derailment earlier this month. The incident has sparked health concerns among those living in the area.

One of the materials listed is vinyl chloride, which is a carcinogen. Short-term exposure to vinyl chloride can affect the central nervous system, resulting in dizziness, drowsiness and headaches. Long-term exposure to it can cause liver damage, including a rare liver cancer. Vinyl chloride is used to make PVC plastic and vinyl products.

When it burns, vinyl chloride becomes phosgene and hydrogen chloride — both of which are safe in small enough concentrations. Phosgene was used as a choking agent in World War I, as it is toxic. Hydrogen chloride is irritating to the eyes, throat, skin and nose.

Another chemical listed is ethylene glycol monobutyl ether. Brief exposure to it can irritate the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether can affect the central nervous system, blood, kidneys and liver. Long-term exposure defats the skin.

Ethylhexyl acrylate may also be a carcinogen if swallowed, as it causes stomach cancer in animals. Contact can be irritating and it can cause dizziness, drowsiness and more.

Isobutylene is highly flammable and can cause headache, dizziness, lightheadedness and fatigue. Higher levels can cause coma and death.

Butyl acrylate is also highly flammable. It can burn skin and eyes and irritate the throat and lungs. Repeated exposure can permanently damage the lungs.

According to the EPA, these chemicals were detected in the Ohio River, which supplies water to more than 5 million people. As of Feb. 12, the EPA said it had not detected concerning levels of the hazardous substances in the air.

In that letter to Norfolk Southern, the EPA also acknowledges that the company may be liable for the costs of cleaning up the site under the federal “Superfund” law.

Ford Motor Company has suspended the production and shipping of its F-150 Lightning trucks over an electric vehicle battery issue it recently discovered. The company said it could take weeks to get back on track.

Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg wouldn’t elaborate on the specific battery issue but told Straight Arrow News it was discovered during a standard pre-delivery quality inspection.

“One vehicle displayed a battery issue. We believe we have identified the root cause of this issue,” Bergg said in an email. “By the end of next week, we expect to conclude our investigation and apply what we learned to the truck’s battery production process; this could take a few weeks.”

She said Ford is holding already-produced vehicles while they work through the issue, adding that they are not aware of any issues with trucks already on the road. Production at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, will be suspended at least through next week.

The timing is serendipitous for rival Dodge, which just a few days earlier aired a 60-second Super Bowl commercial about “premature electrification,” teasing its electric Ram truck REV that isn’t expected to hit the market until the end of 2024.

Ford beat Dodge and even Tesla to the market with an EV truck but is struggling to ramp up production to meet the fervent demand for the Lightning. Ford just announced Monday plans to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan to serve new and existing Ford EV models.

Faulty EV batteries have been known to cause overheating and even fires that can burn for hours. General Motors ended up recalling 140,000 Chevy Bolts over fire risks, a decision that cost the company more than $1 billion. And the National Transportation Safety Board investigated Tesla after some of its cars spontaneously went up in flames.

Salesforce and its co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff are facing pressure from five activist investors. The latest activist investor, Third Point’s Dan Loeb, recently called off his proxy fight with Disney.

Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, Inclusive Capital and Elliott Management round out the five. Elliott Management is believed to be the most active, with a multi-billion dollar investment.

The outside challenges come at a tumultuous time for the company worth $170 billion. Last month, Salesforce announced layoffs for 10% of its workers, saying it hired too many during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both co-CEO Bret Taylor and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield left the company in January. It is the second time in less than three years Benioff has lost a co-CEO, leaving him alone at the helm. And the stock plunged 48% in 2022.

The share price has rebounded some in 2023, up 25% as of Monday, rising on activist news and the overall boost to tech stocks. But five activist investors can be a complicated recipe if they’re each looking at different ways to shake up the company.

Board seats are always a big ploy. Sunday marked the start of the month-long nominating window for investors to put forward their preferred names. Salesforce has already placated one of the activist investors, ValueAct, by appointing its CEO and Chief Investment Officer Mason Morfit to the board. He is one of three new directors that was announced at the end of January at the same time the company revealed two existing members were retiring. Morfit, along with Mastercard Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra and former Carnival CEO Arnold Donald, will be active March 1.

But Elliott Management is also expected to nominate multiple people to replace other longtime board members who work closely with Benioff. Elliott Management and other investors have so far kept their demands out of the public, working behind the scenes with Benioff to negotiate changes to maximize Salesforce’s value.

In part one of this series, experts debunked recent headlines that Yellowstone’s supervolcano was on the verge of a catastrophic eruption. This part analyzes a more significant threat: Mount St. Helens. 

“The take home point is that the amount of molten material is not sufficient to trigger a really large eruption of the type that Yellowstone is famous for,” said Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. 

“Here in the continental U.S., the most likely eruption will be somewhere in the Cascades,” said Jon Major, scientist-in-charge at the Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO). The cascade range is an arc of a dozen active volcanoes that span from the Canadian border down into northern California. 

“We are anticipating that Mount St. Helens, because of its highly frequent eruptive activity, that perhaps in the next few decades, we may see another eruption of Mount St. Helens, and that eruption is most likely to be very similar to what we saw through the 1980s,” said Major. 

The 1980s eruption is considered the largest and most disastrous in U.S. history. 57 people were killed and hundreds of square miles were reduced to wasteland.

“There were a number of people probably living in the Pacific Northwest who did not even realize that these beautiful mountains that they see out their back window, are actually volcanoes that erupt periodically. So, it puts eruptions on the map of the public consciousness,” Major said.

Mount St. Helens might be the most explosive volcano in the continental U.S., but Mount Baker and Mount Rainier could be more dangerous due to their history of large volcanic mudflows. 

“Communities that are down river from Mount Rainier, they have evacuation plans. They practice evacuation drills in the event that a large volcanic mudflow might be generated,” said Major.

Glacier Peak, which lies between Mount Rainier and Mount Baker, is the second most explosive volcano in the Cascades after Mount St. Helens. Glacier Peak poses another serious threat.

“Those eruptions tend to generate lots of volcanic ash. And that volcanic ash poses very serious threats both to airplane, the aviation industry, but then also to the communities that are downwind of the volcanoes,” said Major. According to Major, CVO’s safety strategy centers around research, monitoring capability and public outreach. 

“The next time one of our volcanoes erupts, we’ll be able to communicate with the emergency management authorities and the public. The public will know what’s happening and we will prevent any real disasters from happening,” Major said. 

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Labor Department estimates $191 billion in pandemic unemployment insurance was paid improperly. The OIG also said it is still working to find out the final improper payment rate, but know it’s over 20%.

The OIG is now asking for Congress to provide extra funding for the investigations. A new report stated the office is reducing its workforce by 20% this year and had to cancel 10 pandemic related audits.

“Over the past 10 fiscal years, on average, every dollar invested in the OIG resulted in a return on investment of nearly 75 dollars to the federal government and American taxpayers,” the request to Congress said.

The OIG also wants Congress to extend the statute of limitations for unemployment insurance fraud beyond the current five years. Otherwise, it said fraudsters will get away with stealing taxpayer money.

President Biden echoed that message during his State of the Union.

“Now, let’s triple our anti-fraud strike forces going after these criminals, double the statute of limitations on these crimes, and crack down on identity fraud by criminal syndicates stealing billions of dollars from the American people,” the president said.

House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y., said to prevent fraud, guardrails need to be put in at the front end when legislation is written, and they need accountability at the back end. He said he hopes the added funding and statute of limitations extension can be done this congress.

“I mean I think we all support the notion that taxpayer dollars and resources should be used in an effective, efficient and equitable fashion,” Jeffries said.

Lawmakers want to blame their opposing party’s president since many of the programs were created under the Trump administration, but much of the oversight has taken place under Biden. 

“He mentioned watchdogs in his speech but it’s totally self-serving and misleading because his administration has gutted the authority of inspectors general related to COVID. We’ve got to restore the authority,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said.

“It’s important that we uncover the frauds that occurred during the Trump administration. And we’re working hard on it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said.

But if Congress wants investigations to continue, it will need to provide the funding.

Home prices went up in 90% of metro markets across the U.S. in the last quarter of 2022 despite weakening demand, new data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows. Compared to a year ago, the national median price of a single family home rose 4% to $378,700.

The price increase is happening in spite of mortgage rates more than doubling in the last year, pushing monthly payments out of the realm of affordability for many. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from an average 3.15% in December 2021 to 6.44% in December 2022. That hiked the median monthly payment from $1,256 to $1,873 over the same time period.

“Because we have a lack of inventory in the U.S., these houses are remaining highly priced, because there are not as many available for people to purchase, even if demand has fallen,” said Alcynna Lloyd, a housing economy reporter for Business Insider.

According to the NAR, the family income needed to qualify for a median priced home went from $60,288 in December 2021 to $89,904 in December 2022, increasing by roughly 50%. Wages increased 5% over the same stretch. While tight inventory nationwide will continue to put pressure on prices, that’s not the case in every market, and that’s where Lloyd said some buyers could see relief.

“Some of these hot pandemic boom towns like Phoenix, Boise, those are areas seeing their home prices fall down,” she said. “Demand just isn’t there anymore. So while these markets saw a lot of production during the early stages of the pandemic, there just isn’t really enough buyers out there interested.”

Areas around Boise, Idaho; Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; and Memphis, Tennessee, all saw declines in the fourth quarter, according to NAR data. In addition, home prices in notoriously expensive markets in California like San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Sacramento also saw year-over-year declines.

Interest in this economy is also directly tied to interest rates. Freddie Mac on Thursday reported a slight rise in the 30-year fixed rate from 6.09% to 6.12%, which is still nearly a full point lower than November’s peak of 7.08%. With the drop in rates, mortgage applications are starting to rise again, though remain far below what they were a year ago.

“That’s definitely enticing people,” Lloyd said. “Something else to keep in mind is that 6% is not an alarming mortgage rate. I spoke to an analyst this week that said when he purchased his first home, he paid around 12%. So 6% isn’t such a dramatic climb of mortgage rates, it’s just how fast that happened over the last year.”

Now that the shock of higher rates is wearing off, people appear slightly more willing to get into the market. And sellers who decide to enter the market are more willing to make concessions. That includes home builders, who are increasingly buying down mortgage rates to entice buyers.

“I think we’ve definitely reached a stage in the market where people are being more realistic about their selling or their buying perspectives,” Lloyd said. “And the market is really trying to get to a point where things go back to normal. People are coming back to Earth.”

The NFL’s Super Bowl attracts hundreds of millions of viewers each and every year. It’s technically a football game but the commercials are their own main event. In 2022, it cost $6.5 million for 30 seconds between the action. Last year, the big game was dubbed the Crypto Bowl because of all of the ads for cryptocurrency exchanges. Here’s how the last 12 months treated these big spenders in this week’s Five for Friday.

#5. eToro

With the massive price tag for airtime during the big game, eToro’s ad fell flat. There was no star power, no comedy and it didn’t generate any buzz. The cryptocurrency and stock trading app’s year was uneventful, similar to that of its commercial. But boring may be welcome considering the struggles crypto has faced over the last year. eToro comes out relatively unscathed.

#4. Binance

Trust yourself.

02.13.22

Here’s a message from all-star basketball forward @JimmyButler ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/WS9XCQrlhO

— Binance (@binance) February 2, 2022

Binance saved its money last year and attempted to head off any concerns about celebrity crypto endorsements. The company tapped NBA star Jimmy Butler for a Twitter video telling fans not to listen to the big names pushing crypto during the Super Bowl. Binance has since been accused of triggering the liquidity crisis that caused the collapse of rival exchange FTX. It’s now dominating the crypto market more than any competitor, filling the void left behind by FTX.

#3. Coinbase

Coinbase’s Super Bowl ad was simply a QR code bouncing around the screen like the old school DVD screensaver. If you scanned it and set up an account, you were eligible for $15 in Bitcoin. The ad had viewers on the edge of their seats wondering exactly what it was. It was so successful the Coinbase app crashed following the initial airing of the commercial. Amid struggles in cryptocurrency that followed since, the company had to lay off more than 2,000 employees in the last year. Coinbase also reported a $1 billion net loss for the second quarter of 2022. It’s not the worst thing to happen to a crypto exchange this past year, but it certainly isn’t good.

#2. Crypto.com

Crypto.com and actor Matt Damon took heat for their “Fortune Favors the Brave” ads which aired well before the Super Bowl. During the big game, Crypto.com opted for a commercial featuring future NBA all-time scoring leader Lebron James. In the end, the spot seemed more like an ad for the NBA superstar than for cryptocurrency. Crypto.com has laid off thousands of employees since last summer and its token Cronos lost $1 billion in value in November due to concerns over the contagion effect of the FTX collapse.

#1. FTX

Larry David being skeptical about innovations throughout human history seemed like a good idea for FTX last year. But the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star may have been right to be hesitant in the case of FTX. Now it’s bankrupt and founder Sam Bankman-Fried is under house arrest at his parents’. FTX has been accused of illegally financing the Super Bowl spot and Larry David and a whole host of other FTX-promoting celebrities have been named in a class action lawsuit.