Not actually true. Web-based discussion fora were emerging (I put up my first in 1995 run by a set of Perl scripts), and Geocities had become the first big-name freebie host.
Usenet was of course much longer-established, and the experience of usenet trolling[1] presumably informed the debate that led to Section 230.
[1] As misunderstood by the media to give us today's use of the word.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
