22/05/2023
The United States Supreme Court handed Twitter, Facebook and Google a victory, ruling that victims of “terrorist” attacks cannot hold the social networks accountable for posting messages of support for the Islamic State (IS) group.
The High Court ruled that the forums did not “aid or encourage” IS terror attacks by posting messages supporting the extremist group.
The court said, “The fact that some rogue actors have taken advantage of these platforms is not sufficient to claim that the defendants knowingly provided substantial assistance and thereby facilitated those rogue acts.”
The cases against Google-owned YouTube and Twitter were seen as potential challenges to decades-old legal protections for tech companies.
But in its judgement, the court indicated that the cases were not fit for hearing under a legal provision known as Section 230, which provides legal immunity to internet platforms from any content coming from a third party, even if The website does this. as a recommendation.
Thus the Supreme Court magistrates largely sidelined the debate by saying that, in any event, the allegations against YouTube and Twitter did not violate and therefore discussion of Article 230 was irrelevant.
“We decline to address the application of Section 230 which makes an untenable claim, if any,” he added.
The Court declined to hear most of the cases presented, and experts believed that ruling on it may seek to revise landmark legislation.
However, already in a February hearing, the justices expressed doubt that the case was appropriate to initiate debate on the reexamination of Section 230.
