Senate Commerce Committee threatens to subpoena tech giants to upcoming liability law hearing

The Senate Commerce Committee is prepared to subpoena numerous tech giants to a hearing next month regarding a 1996 law that shields those companies from liability for content that appears on their severs. 

The committee is poised to issue legal summonses to the chief executives of Twitter, Facebook and Google if they do not accept an invitation to an Oct. 1 hearing on Section 230 the Communications Decency Act, which shields Internet platforms from liability over user-generated content. 

A staffer for committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told staffers in a Wednesday email that "unless we receive a very prompt affirmative response [to the invitations], we will be issuing the subpoenas," according to Politico. 

Section 230 of the act has come under bipartisan fire as of late, with Republicans claiming that tech companies are biased against conservatives and Democrats arguing that those companies should do more to police misinformation posted on their networks.