5 min read

'A resounding victory for platforms', Twitter crackdown in Turkey and executive liability

The week in content moderation - edition #201

Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation, your guide to the policies, products, platforms and people shaping the future of online speech and the internet. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by members like you.

It's a Supreme Court kind of week with big news coming from the high courts of both Washington and Brasilia. Both stories have a lot further to run though so keep tuning into EiM for the latest on both Twitter v Taamneh and Bill 2630.

Welcome to new subscribers from Google, Unitary, Spotify, Depop and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in beautiful Ireland. Drop me a line to say hi and what you're working on.

Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW


Policies

New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation

The big news of the week concerns the US Supreme Court's decision to rule in favour of Twitter in Twitter v Taamneh. The case, if you'll remember, had significant implications for the future of the web (EiM #193), leading to the verdict being received warmly by free speech organisations.

The summary can be read in full but the reaction and contextualising by others is worth its weight in gold:

  • Stanford's Daphne Keller called it a "resounding victory for platforms".
  • Jess Miers, Counsel at Progress Chamber and EiM interviewee not so long ago on this very topic, runs through the key points.
  • Santa Clara professor Eric Goldman called it a "better than expected day for the internet's short-term future".
  • Kate Klonick, professor at St John's Law and Harvard visiting scholar, said it  represented "about as hands-off as it can possibly get on Section 230".

The other notable case —Google v Gonzalez— was vacated (translation non-legal-heads: it was sent back to the 9th Circuit to resolve in light of the Taamneh ruling).

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