Billionaire Marc Benioff challenges the AI sector: ‘What’s more important to us, growth or our kids?’

Imagine it is 1996. You log on to your desktop computer (which took several minutes to start up), listening to the rhythmic screech and hiss of the modem connecting you to the World Wide Web. You navigate to a clunky message board—like AOL or Prodigy—to discuss your favorite hobbies, from Beanie Babies to the newest mixtapes.

At the time, a little-known law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act had just been passed. The law—then just a 26-word document—created the modern internet. It was intended to protect “good Samaritans” who moderate websites from regulation, placing the responsibility for content on individual users rather than the host company.

Today, the law remains largely the same despite evolutionary leaps in internet technology and pushback from critics, now among them Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. 

In a conversation at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, titled “Where Can New Growth Come From?” Benioff railed against Section 230, saying the law prevents tech giants from being held accountable for the dangers AI and social media pose.

“Things like Section 230 in the United States need to be reshaped because these tech companies will not be held responsible for the damage that they are basically doing to our f...