Joseph Gordon-Levitt Advocates to End Big Tech Immunity

Published: February 10, 2026

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 04: Actor and director Joseph Gordon Levitt attends a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. Levitt called for meaningful Section 230 reform and to call for reforms to the law that shields companies from lawsuits over user-generated content. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

By Mallory Mattingly

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt took his talents to Washington D.C. to advocate for “a piece of legislation that would open social media companies up to lawsuits,” PEOPLE reported.

“These amoral companies, they just keep allowing these awful things to happen on their platforms — and they won’t do anything about it because they will always prioritize profits over the public good, even when it comes to kids,” Gordon-Levitt said, per Courthouse News Service.

The actor stood alongside Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin to champion “the Illinois senator’s Sunset Section 230 Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at rolling back the eponymous 1996 amendment to the Communications Decency Act. The provision has for decades shielded social media companies from lawsuits related to content hosted on their platforms — which parents and advocates say unfairly protects Big Tech even as its products harm minors.”

Gordon-Levitt, who shares three kids with his wife Tasha McCauley, gestured to images that illustrated why social media platforms need to be held liable.

“I just heard a couple of stories that left me trying to keep myself together,” he shared. “These photos remind me of my kids, and the harm that was done to these kids online might have been prevented if certain Big Tech companies knew that they could be sued.”

Bridgette Noring, a mother who lost her son to fentanyl poisoning after contacting a drug dealer on Snapchat, wants people to know that “Sunsetting Section 230 won’t destroy the internet, and nothing we are proposing will impact our First Amendment rights.”

However, it will “end blanket immunity without responsibility for tech companies.”

Gordon-Levitt has also taken a stand against the dangers of AI, especially on children.

“While in Utah for Sundance last week, I was invited to testify before the UT State Legislature in support of the AI Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act,” the actor wrote on Instagram earlier this month. “This is an issue that Americans broadly agree on, whether we’re Republican or Democrat, Progressive, Conservative, or Centrist — it’s clear to us these big AI companies are incapable of prioritizing the public good on their own.”

“This is going to have a huge impact on so many fronts like jobs, the environment, or our collective ability to think and communicate,” he continued. “But it’s especially urgent when it comes to our kids. I met a bunch of great people there at Utah’s beautiful Capitol building, including Utah Representative @doug_fiefia, Attorney General @agderekbrown, Majority Assistant Whip @mike.mckell, and Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore. The good news is the bill passed unanimously in the committee, and will now head on to the House and the Senate. Let’s go.”

Legislation like the Sunset Section 230 Act is a good step in the right direction to holding Big Tech companies accountable for the damage they do to children.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.