Friday 10 February 2017

Eroding exceptionalism: Internet firms’ legal immunity is under threat | The Economist

Eroding exceptionalism: Internet firms’ legal immunity is under threat | The Economist: "The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, last year proposed plans to regulate platforms. It will not change its e-commerce directive, but it has pushed platforms into signing up to a “voluntary” code of conduct which commits them to actively and swiftly remove illegal hate speech such as racial abuse (instead of reacting to complaints).

Some EU member states are considering going further: the German government may bring in a law to impose fines of up to €500,000 ($534,000) on a platform like Facebook if it fails to take down illegal content within 24 hours.

 Section 230 of the CDA is under pressure, too. True, the Supreme Court recently refused to revive an unsuccessful lawsuit against Backpage, an American site for classified ads with a popular adult section, which had been accused of facilitating forced prostitution. But last year saw a “swarm” of adverse Section 230 rulings, says Eric Goldman of the Santa Clara University School of Law." 'via Blog this'

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