In a stark warning to policymakers, the president and COO of SmugMug’s parent company said eliminating Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would force his family-run business to pre-screen every upload, a move he says would bankrupt the platform and upend real-time photography sharing. Ben MacAskill, who leads Awesome—the parent company of SmugMug and Flickr—told the Electronic Frontier Foundation that without the legal shield, small platforms like his cannot afford to moderate tens of millions of daily uploads.
“Section 230 allows us to run our business. We are a small, family run business. We don’t have the resources to police every single upload, every single comment, or every single engagement that happens on the site,” MacAskill said in an interview with EFF policy analyst Joe Mullin. “If Section 230 is done away with, we have to [check] content that goes online to make sure we’re not liable. That means policing tens of millions of uploads per day.”
SmugMug, a photo hosting and e-commerce platform founded in 2002, serves professional photographers who rely on the site to share galleries, sell prints, and manage payments. In 2018, SmugMug acquired Flickr, adding tens of millions of hobbyist photographers to its user base. MacAskill emphasized that the added scale makes pre-moderation impossible for any business.
Background
Section 230, enacted in 1996, protects online platforms from being held legally responsible for content posted by users. Supporters argue it enables the modern internet by allowing sites to host user-generated content without fear of endless lawsuits. Opponents claim it gives tech companies too much immunity and have called for its repeal or significant reform.
SmugMug operates under the umbrella of Awesome, which also includes the media network This Week in Photo and the nonprofit Flickr Foundation. MacAskill has been an active voice in policy debates around Section 230 and online platform regulation. His comments come amid renewed congressional efforts to amend or repeal the law.
What This Means
Without Section 230, MacAskill warned that platforms would have to moderate every image before it goes live, creating weeks-long delays. “Can you imagine—you just got married, and you’re waiting for your wedding photos for a week or two because they’re in some moderation queue?” he said. “I don’t think any business can afford that, period.”
He stressed that even small platforms like SmugMug face existential risk from legal liability. “If we don’t have legal protections, and we get one nefarious customer—if something goes sideways—then I’m liable for that,” MacAskill explained. “I don’t, and can’t possibly know, whether every single photo is appropriate or legal, as it’s uploaded.”
The warning echoes concerns from other small platform operators who argue that stripping Section 230 would consolidate power among a few tech giants that can afford massive moderation teams, while driving niche platforms out of business. For photographers, the result could be fewer options for hosting and selling their work online, and a slower, less responsive internet.