US Supreme Court considers responsibility of social networks for criminal content of their users

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Section 230, which is part of the Communications Decency Act, shields social media companies from criminal posts made by their users. American judiciary can limit or overturn it. General view of US Supreme Court facade Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS The US Supreme Court holds a second day of hearings on Wednesday (22) in a case where technology companies are held liable for content posted by users of their platforms. The current lawsuit involves Twitter and was filed by the American relatives of a Jordanian man killed in a massacre at an Istanbul nightclub. Judges heard arguments on Tuesday in an appeal stemming from a separate lawsuit against YouTube filed by the family of an American woman killed in an attack by Islamist militants in Paris. Both lawsuits were filed under a law that allows Americans to recover damages related to “an act of international terrorism.” Relatives of Nawras Alassaf accused Twitter of aiding and abetting the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the January 1, 2017 attack that killed him and 38 others, by failing to police content posted on the platform. The nine judges in the case appeared undecided on whether to restrict a form of statutory immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from a wide range of lawsuits. The lower court threw out the case largely on the grounds of Section 230 immunity. The other case involves a lawsuit from the family of an American named Nohemi Gonzalez, who was shot dead in a 2015 riot in Paris, an attack also claimed by the Islamic State. The suit blames Google for recommending the group’s content to certain YouTube users. In the case of Twitter, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, did not consider whether Section 230 can bar the family’s lawsuit. Google and Facebook are also defendants, but have not formally joined Twitter’s feature. The administration of US President Joe Biden is supporting Twitter in the case, saying the Anti-Terrorism Act imposes responsibility for assisting a terrorist act and not for “providing general assistance to a foreign terrorist organization” with no causal link to the act. in question. Twitter said in court documents it had terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against “threats or promotion of terrorism”. Decisions in both cases should come out by the end of June.

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