(TotalConservative.com) – The Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging the broad protections afforded to social media companies over liability for the consequences of content posted on their platform under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
Gonzales v. Google is related to the death of American Nohemi Gonzalez who was killed in a series of ISIS attacks in Paris in 2015. Her family argues that Google (Youtube’s parent company) helped ISIS recruit by allowing them to post multiple videos to Youtube, which they then recommended to folks who might be interested in that content via their algorithm. The case was brought before the U.S. Court of Appeals that decided Section 230 did protect the companies, but only by a narrow margin. Oral arguments begin on Tuesday, February 21st.
The majority, who agreed Section 230 protected companies from liability admitted in their ruling that the subsection was used to shield more activity than originally intended. They preferred congress to settle the question, however suggesting that it was not appropriate for them to legislate from the bench.
The family is arguing that the recommendations for videos are not user-generated and therefore are not shielded by 230. Google’s argument hinges on SCOTUS accepting that all their search and organizational functions are protected. The corporate giant claims that if their algorithm cannot be protected none of its other functions like searches or recommendations for similar videos are protected.
The family admits their case is materially identical to another case, Twitter v. Taamneh, which will be argued on Wednesday, February 22nd. Their case argues that Twitter (Google and Facebook are also defendants) provided material support for terrorist activity by failing to aggressively police terrorist content on their platforms. The Antiterrorism Act allows suit against anyone who aids terrorists. The 9th Circuit approved the plaintiff’s claims, and big tech wants them thrown out.
The Taamneh family wants to see accountability for the material support tech companies have provided to terrorists, while the companies argue that rulings against them will significantly impact their business models. There are additional cases coming from Texas and Florida, both challenging the protections of 230.
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