5 ms·
If Facebook becomes a publisher and not merely a conduit of speech, it must simultaneously be legally liable for what it publishes.
by gridlockd 6y ago
If Facebook becomes a publisher and not merely a conduit of speech, it must simultaneously be legally liable for what it publishes.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoLet's not hide behind the technicalities. Facebook makes your content available to a much larger audience than you might otherwise have access to, which is to say publishes it in the common English meaning of the word even if, under US law, it's not regarded as a publisher w.r.t user-generated content. In your terms, Facebook might be a mere conduit of speech, but there is nothing that says it has to a perfect/unfiltered conduit.
- gridlockd 6y ago> In your terms, Facebook might be a mere conduit of speech, but there is nothing that says it has to a perfect/unfiltered conduit. There is the provision that a common carrier must not discriminate[1]. In return, the common carrier is absolved of certain liabilities. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier I'm not saying Facebook is (or should be) considered a common carrier, I'm saying Facebook shouldn't get to have it both ways, as it currently does. The law hasn't quite caught up here yet.