Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: US Supreme Court judges have expressed concern about tinkering with a legal shield for social media companies in a case that could reshape the internet regime. The case pits the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, 23 — who was shot by Islamic State gunmen in Paris in 2015 — against YouTube owner Google that recommended the video to users.
The family accuses Google of assisting and abetting the terrorist organisation by recommending its videos to users. Google claimed it was not responsible, citing a decades-old law. In the US, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields internet companies from liability for content posted by third parties on their platforms, the BBC said.
Supreme Court heard 3-hours of arguments
The law of 1996 also allows businesses to remove content that is deemed to be in violation of the platform’s rules. The Supreme Court heard nearly three hours of arguments from lawyers representing US officials, Google, and Gonzalez’s family on Tuesday. The Supreme Court has been asked for the first time to define the scope of Section 230 and determine whether platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are protected when their algorithms direct users to specific information.
During the hearing, the justices noted that the internet landscape has changed dramatically since the law was first enacted 27 years ago. Justices also expressed concern that a ruling in favor of Gonzalez’s family could lead to a flood of litigation against tech companies.
Two other justices, conservative Samuel Alito and liberal Ketanji Brown Jackson admitted they were perplexed by arguments made by a lawyer for the Gonzalez family. A conservative, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, expressed concern that any ruling to limit the legal shield for internet firms “would really crash the digital economy”. Gonzalez’s family first sued Google in 2016, claiming the tech giant violated federal anti-terrorism laws by recommending Islamic State videos to its users.
Two lower courts ruled in Google’s favor, ruling that the tech giant was protected under Section 230. The Supreme Court (SC) is expected to rule on the case by the end of June. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court judges will hear the case on the question of whether Twitter aided terrorism by allowing the Islamic State to use its platform will be heard.
