United States of America: Issued Supreme court ruling in Gonzalez v Google regarding platform's liability over displayed terrorist content

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Description

Issued Supreme court ruling in Gonzalez v Google regarding platform's liability over displayed terrorist content

On 18 May 2023, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the appeal case challenging the Ninth Circuit Court decision in the Gonzalez v Google case concerning online platforms' liability for displaying terrorist content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and Anti-Terrorism Act. The case involves the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks in Paris, and the plaintiffs alleged that Google is "directly and secondarily liable" for the attacks claiming that it "aided and abetted" and conspired with ISIS. The plaintiffs claimed Google is liable because, due to the recommendation algorithm, ISIS content reached a higher audience, and it approved ISIS videos for advertising and shared the resulting profits with ISIS. The Ninth Circuit Court stated that the platforms are protected from liability under 230 of the Communications Decency Act, except for the allegation that Google approved ISIS videos for advertising and shared resulting profits with ISIS. However, the Ninth Circuit held that no viable claim was stated. In its ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that the plaintiffs did not state a viable claim and failed to provide evidence for secondary liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act, noting that the sharing the advertising revenue cannot be considered as providing "substantial assistance" and "aiding and abetting" a terrorist organisation.

Original source

Scope

Policy Area
Content moderation
Policy Instrument
Content moderation regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
platform intermediary: user-generated content
Implementation Level
national
Government Branch
judiciary
Government Body
supreme court

Complete timeline of this policy change

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2022-10-03
under appeal

On 3 October 2022, the US Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of …

2023-05-18
in force

On 18 May 2023, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the appeal case challenging the Ninth Circuit …