Companies such as Instagram and TikTok have never really been neutral distributors of information
For years, social media companies have escaped liability for content posted on their platforms by using a legal protection known as common carriage. That is, they have been deemed to be a neutral conveyor of information – like a postal service or a telephone line – and so can’t be held responsible for harmful things said on their platforms.
A recent decision in a U.S. appeals court has for the first time seriously rocked the shaky foundations of the common carriage defence for social media firms. This is good, and should continue – both in the U.S. and globally – so social media companies are forced to take real responsibility for the social pollution they have released.
TikTok won in district court, citing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which evokes the defence of the common carrier: that the app merely disseminates the content, but is not responsible for it.reversed that decision“Today, 230 rides in to rescue corporations from virtually any claim loosely related to content posted by a third party, no matter the cause of action and whatever the provider’s actions,” wrote Justice Paul Matey.
As one example, the state’s complaint describes an internal research initiative at Instagram called “Project Daisy,” which found that hiding the number of likes on an Instagram post boosted teenagers’ mental health because it removed a way to compare themselves to peers. The company’s researchers recommended removing public like counts, or at least making it opt-in.
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