Ajit Pai, the outgoing Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said in an interview with C-SPAN on Thursday said he does not “intend to move forward” with the proposed rule-making on Section 230 during his remaining time at the FCC. In November, Pai announced that he was leaving the FCC on January 20, 2021.

Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act provides immunity for social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook from being sued for the content posted by their users. On October 15, Pai released a statement expressing his intention to move forward with a rule-making to provide clarity on the meaning of Section 230. He said,

Members of all three branches of the federal government have expressed serious concerns about the prevailing interpretation of the immunity set forth in Section 230 of the Communications Act. The Commission’s General Counsel has informed me that the FCC has the legal authority to interpret Section 230. Throughout my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission, I have favored regulatory parity, transparency, and free expression. Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech. But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.

When asked about this statement during his interview, Pai said that there isn’t sufficient time to complete all necessary administrative steps to resolve the rule-making owing to the results of the election.

He pointed out that there is a bipartisan consensus among elected officials in Congress that the law needs to be reformed. President Trump has repeatedly called for abolishing Section 230; in December, he vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) because it did not include a provision to repeal Section 230.