Does section 230 CDA protect twitter, facebook and other online platforms?

4 years ago
58

http://www.attorneysteve.com [over 600 videos and growing]. Subscribe for new videos: https://bit.ly/38vXDzk

In this episode of Litigation Whiteboard® Attorney Steve® discusses what everyone seems to be talking about these days - can online social media platforms like titter, facebook and others be protected from liability if they are taking actions such as:

1. Blocking viepoints
2. Issuing "fact checks"
3. Calling your post "misleading"
4. Taking other actions to silence your free speech or edit your content

These are issues that the President of the United States has been bringing up lately, and many others as well. Immunity from liability for "interactive computer services (notactingas publisher/speaker) was created by the "26 words that created the internet" (47 USC 230). This law came into existence after the Stratten-Oakmont case (Wolf of Wall Street) when they sued internet platform prodigy for the alleged defamation of one of its users (someone called Stratten a fraud).

At any rate, watch this video to get a general legal overview of section 230 of the CDA, how it works, and how, for the present time anyway, it appears there will be a tough road to hoe if you want to make a company like eBay, Craigslist, AOL, Amazon, Yelp or others liable for the user-generated content of third parties, or even of actions these companies may take in good faith to enforce its community standards and terms of service.

Keep in mind, these companies CAN BE LIABLE for failing to takedown intellectual property that is posted by a user which infringes on the patent, copyright, trademark or trade secret of a party. A DMCA "takedown request" is usually used in these circumstances.

Also, note, many online platforms are PRIVATE companies, and have more leeway on restricting free speech. There is no requirement of "content-neutral" that can be found in section 230.

Hope you enjoy, make sure to SUBSCRIBE and yes, you can share my video on your social media networks with attribution to VondranLegal.com

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