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2023 Could Be The Year The Supreme Court Finally Tells Us What The Guidelines On Online Content Moderation Are

Florence + The Machine? More like Clarence + The Content Curation.

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Businessman burying his head uner a laptop asking for helpEveryone knows that the Supreme Court has some big answers to some big questions in store for us come 2023. For example, will Democracy still be a thing? What about affirmative action? These aren’t the only legal phrases without clear punctuation. 2022 ended with a revitalized interest in the capabilities and limits(?) of technology and artificial intelligence. And, even if computer programs do a better job than their human counterparts, the Supreme Court has the final say on a series of pertinent tech questions that center around a vital topic: at what point does an inability or refusal to moderate content become malfeasance?

From the Washington Post:

In Gonzalez v. Google, the Supreme Court is slated to consider whether the tech giant can be shielded under Section 230 from claims that it aided and abetted terrorists by allegedly promoting their content. And in Twitter v. Taamneh, a connected case, justices will consider what responsibility, if any, platforms have to crack down on such material under anti-terror laws.

This question is of major importance, especially considering it doesn’t look like we’re going to have a decrease in politicized violence any time soon. Just a couple months ago, a mass shooter desperate for attention live streamed the carnage and websites are still struggling to scrub the net clean of his influence. As these acts of domestic terrorism continue, how will tech giants crack down on this content while also deflecting the “all speech is fair speech” people who think there’s no authority to regulate content.

While its future is up in the air, one thing is clear — the rate of hate speech under Elon’s twitter has skyrocketed in never before seen ways. We know that he is more than happy to let negative content proliferate in the name of freedom… unless it is directed at him, of course. But will the Supreme Court just let things take their course, no matter the outcome? Their decisions on tech moderation could make or break whatever remaining “legitimacy” they have.

2023 Is Poised To Be A Landmark Year For Tech Legal Bouts [Washington Post]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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