At a time when Twitter and Facebook face increasing criticism for spreading disinformation, the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Minorities in the Profession Section (MIPS) Black History Month high school essay contest deals with the landmark law that shields social media companies from liability from the content users post.

Daryl Williams, chair of MIPS, said the section chose to use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 as this year's essay topic because it's an issue that would connect students to the law.

"This is a generation of kids that was raised on the internet, raised on Twitter. This topic is ripe" he said.