Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Google And Twitter Over Liability Cases

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Supreme court ruled in favor of Google and Twitter over the lawsuits filed based on Anti-Terrorism Act by the families of those who were killed during two different terrorist attacks.

The first lawsuit was filed by the relatives of Nawras Alassaf who alongside other 38 victims was killed during the Reina Nightclub shooting in Instanbul on January 1st, 2017. The lawsuit alleged Twitter failed to police its platform of ISIS related accounts that resulted in the shooting incident.

The second lawsuit was filed by the family of the exchange student killed in Paris during 2015 shootings. The family alleged Google's YouTube platform should be held liable for the incident.

In both cases, the court sidestepped the requests to limit a Section 230, a law that protects social media platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their respective users.

In case of Twitter, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote:

Plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient to establish that these defendants aided and abetted ISIS in carrying out the relevant attack.

Similar reasoning was adopted in the case against Google.

Section 230 has been in political debates of late with both Democrats and Republicans want to repeal part of it. 

Google Public Policy account tweeted:

Countless companies, scholars, creators and civil society groups who joined with us in this case will be reassured by this result. We'll continue to safeguard free expression online, combat harmful content, and support businesses and creators who benefit from the internet. https://t.co/w7uBX94ocQ

 

Meanwhile, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, one of the authors of Section 230 responded  to Supreme Court's ruling:

I appreciate the Supreme Court’s thoughtful rulings that even without Section 230, plaintiffs would not have won their lawsuits. As is the case with a majority of suits blocked on 230 grounds, the First Amendment or an inability to prove the underlying claims would lead to the same result.

If the Supreme Court has ruled against Google and Twitter, it could have changed the legal interpretation of the Section 230 Law even in its current form while could have been used as a precedence to repeal portions of the law itself.

ThoughtsUnboxed understands where the plaintiffs are coming from. Losing loved ones to such incidents is a pain hard to imagine and we hope no one would face such a calamity. Our hearts and prayers will always be with the affected ones. However, holding social media platforms liable for the contents uploaded by their users is akin to blaming a country for a murder done by one of its citizen. Its really difficult to police such huge platforms and if we go into that rabbit hole of policing, it will eventually hit home run against all of the freedom we enjoy.

Sources:

Reina Nightclub Shooting

Paris Shooting

Section 230

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