Sen. Hawley wants to end Big Tech’s legal shield over AI training data

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called for the complete repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the legal shield protecting tech companies from lawsuits over user-generated content, during a Thursday speech at the National Conservatism Conference. The Missouri Republican specifically targeted AI companies’ use of copyrighted material to train large language models, arguing that tech firms should face legal liability for unauthorized use of creative works.

What they’re saying: Hawley emphasized the massive scale of unauthorized content ingestion by AI systems and its impact on creators.

• “The AI large language models have already trained on enough copyrighted works to fill the Library of Congress 22 times over,” Hawley said, adding that AI systems “have ingested every published work in every language known to man already.”
• “As I look out across the room and see many authors, all of your works have already been taken,” he continued. “Did they consult you? I doubt it. Did they compensate you? Of course not. This is wrong. This is dangerous.”

The big picture: Hawley’s proposal represents a significant escalation in congressional pressure on Section 230, which has faced increasing scrutiny as lawmakers grapple with social media’s societal impacts and AI’s rapid advancement.

• The senator argued for establishing property rights for specific forms of data and legal liability for companies that use copyrighted material without permission.
• His call to “open the courtroom doors” would allow individuals to sue companies and actors who use AI systems trained on their work without consent.

Legislative context: Other senators have already signaled similar intentions to target Section 230 protections.

• Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) indicated earlier this year they were planning legislation to sunset Section 230.
• Previous proposals to modify or repeal the law have been introduced in past congressional sessions but have yet to gain significant momentum.

Why this matters: The push to repeal Section 230 could fundamentally reshape how tech companies operate, particularly as AI development relies heavily on training models with vast amounts of existing content, much of which may be copyrighted material used without explicit permission from creators.