KATE THOMPSON DAVY: US challenges to how Big Tech applies user content could reshape the internet
A middle ground between reformists and free-speech purists might be found in two key court cases
This week two court cases kicking off in the US will test fundamental tenets of the web and could forever alter the way companies manage user content online. Yes, this is all unfolding 13,000km or so away from where I write this — in a literally underpowered country at the pointy end of Africa — but with the global nature of the platforms in question the eyes of the world’s tech and legal communities are trained on Washington DC.
On Tuesday the US supreme court was hearing arguments in Gonzalez v Google, and today Twitter v Taamneh is on the roll. The list of “friends of the court” for each gives a good indication of just how pivotal these trials may prove to be. For the former this includes Microsoft, Yelp, the Anti-defamation League, Reddit, Wikimedia, The Chamber of Commerce (US), Twitter, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Freedom Foundation, Craigslist, and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, as well as various senators and states...
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