Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. which held that a service that lets everything be unmoderated was not liable.
and
Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co. which held that a service that did moderate was liable for everything that may have slipped through.
The first way of hosting a service leads to sites that have no filtering and are filled with spam and other awful but lawful content with no recourse for users who just want to use the service.
The second way of hosting a service leads to services not allowing you to post anything even remotely possibly offensive or libelous, stifling any real discussion.
Neither of those are good, so lawmakers came up with Section 230 to protect services and keep the liability on the one who posted the content, while still allowing the service to moderate things to make it not a cesspool.
Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. which held that a service that lets everything be unmoderated was not liable.
and
Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co. which held that a service that did moderate was liable for everything that may have slipped through.
The first way of hosting a service leads to sites that have no filtering and are filled with spam and other awful but lawful content with no recourse for users who just want to use the service.
The second way of hosting a service leads to services not allowing you to post anything even remotely possibly offensive or libelous, stifling any real discussion.
Neither of those are good, so lawmakers came up with Section 230 to protect services and keep the liability on the one who posted the content, while still allowing the service to moderate things to make it not a cesspool.