{beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  Senators revive fight against Section 230 Senators from both sides of the aisle are reigniting efforts to crawl back tech firms’ legal immunities with hopes bipartisan support in Congress could push the bill across th e finish line this session and gain the backing of President Trump.   © J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press file Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are expected to soon introduce a bill to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in what would be one of the first bipartisan pushes in years to sunset the long-contested liability shield. Pressure is ramping up on lawmakers, who failed to pass most related legislation last session despite major lobbying efforts from tech safety groups and families hoping to hold technology companies accountable for social media harms, specifically on young children.   “The damage being done every year just gets worse,” Graham told The Hill. “There’s more support from the public [this session], the parents and grandparents feel helpless.”   Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, often dubbed as the 26 words that created the internet, largely protects tech firms from being held legally responsible for third-party or user consent.    The law was passed in 1996, years ahead of the social media boom that transformed the internet over the next three decades.  “To the extent this protection was ever needed, its usefulness has long since passed,” said Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.    The push comes amid a broader congressional battle over what some members see as the unchecked power of leading technology companies and the inability to prosecute over alleged social media harm or censorship.    Graham introduced similar legislation in 2020, which would have also given Congress two years to either find an “alternative” to Section 230 or pave the way for eliminating the legal protections. His expected bill likely will resemble the 2020 version.    While members of both parties are voicing support for the bill, their priorities for reforming the law often differ.    Democrats’ pursuit of Section 230 reform has largely revolved around holding tech companies responsible for the harms their platforms allegedly cause users, including kids and teenagers.    “I’m under no illusion it will be easy to pass legislation to protect kids online and finally make the tech industry legally accountable for the harms they cause,” Durbin said. “But I hope that for the sake of our nation’s kids, Congress finally acts.”  Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.   Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Miranda Nazzaro and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: Analysts: Trump tariffs ‘worse than the worst case scenario’ for tech investorsAnalysts described President Trump’s latest slate of tariffs Wednesday as “worse than the worst case scenario” for tech investors.  Trump announced a sweeping 10 percent tariff on goods from all foreign countries, alongside higher tariffs on nations deemed the “worst offenders” when it comes to trade barriers.  Tech firms, such as Apple, Nvidia and other chipmakers, could be particularly impacted by the hefty new …  Full Story   Judge blocks social media age-verification law in ArkansasA federal judge in Arkansas permanently blocked a law requiring age verification for social media accounts, deeming it unconstitutional. The law was stopped by U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas. In a Monday ruling, the judge said the law, known as Act 689, would violate the First Amendment rights of Arkansans because it is a “content-based restriction” on speech rights and the restriction …  Full Story   Musk downplays Wisconsin results, saying he ‘expected to lose’Elon Musk downplayed the results in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, saying in a post early Wednesday that he had “expected to lose.” Musk was responding to a user on the social platform X thanking him for his involvement. “Elon knew that it was a long shot to win the Wisconsin Supreme Court race,” the user wrote. “He knew his involvement in the race would bring more violence against his companies but he fully …  Full Story   FTC chair defends Trump firing of Democratic commissionersFederal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson on Wednesday defended President Trump’s decision to fire the agency’s Democratic commissioners.  FTC commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were dismissed from their roles in March, with the administration telling the former commissioners their continued service at the FTC was “inconsistent” with its policies.  The pair sued the administration last week, …  Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: Amazon makes bid to buy TikTok (The New York Times) Anthropic launches AI chatbot for colleges, universities (TechCrunch)  Crypto Corner  Coinbase higlights broader blockchain use cases © AP Photo/Matt SlocumWelcome to Crypto Corner, a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington. As crypto gains new ground in Washington, Coinbase is seeking to highlight broader uses of blockchain technology by governments —  including in Democrat-led states. "There's been so much focus from a policy perspective on crypto as a trading instrument," Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase's chief policy officer, told The Hill.  However, he added, "There's actually a broader set of applications that the technology can be used for."  In a paper released Wednesday, Shirzad pointed to several examples of U.S. states and other countries using blockchain technology in a wider context: The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has tokenized 42 million car titles.Colorado uses blockchain technology for its cattle brand registry. It also allows residents to pay state taxes in crypto. Poland is using blockchain to allow patients to "donate" their data for research and development.Hong Kong and the European Investment Bank have both issued tokenized bonds. "The blockchain-based revolution in governance is already upon us," Shirzad said. "It's happening across the country."  Zooming out: Government use of blockchain technology has come under greater scrutiny amid reports that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is considering potential applications.  Bloomberg reported in January that Musk had initiated conversations about using blockchain to track federal spending, secure data, make payments and manage buildings.  The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has also held discussions about using blockchain in recent weeks, prompting concerns among some staff, according to ProPublica. Plus: The House Financial Services Committee held a marathon markup on legislation to create a framework for dollar-denominated stablecoins Wednesday.  The process dragged on for more than seven hours, as Democratic lawmakers offered up amendment after amendment, underscoring their concerns about the potential misuse of the financial technology.  In Other News  Branch out with other reads on The Hill: UFC signs multimillion-dollar partnership deal with Meta UFC signed a multimillion-dollar partnership deal Tuesday with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, with the goal of restructuring its fan experience to include artificial intelligence (AI). UFC will use a wide range of its platforms including Meta AI, Meta Glasses, Meta Quest, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads to connect with patrons online and at in-person events.  “Meta has the greatest minds in tech and they are … Full Story   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now:Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs: Here’s how much countries are getting hit President Trump on Wednesday announced he was imposing reciprocal tariffs on dozens of nations, citing what he called years of unfair trade practices. … Read more No bathroom breaks: How Booker accomplished record Senate speech Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) set a new record for the longest Senate speech in history on Monday and Tuesday by holding the upper chamber’s floor for … Read more  What Others are Reading  Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: AI can predict when an earthquake might strike — here’s how    You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Close Thank you for signing up! 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