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I think the libel and defamation laws are too slack in the US. I think Twitter and News Companies who repeat libelous and defamatory tweets about people should

I think the libel and defamation laws are too slack in the US. I think Twitter and News Companies who repeat libelous and defamatory tweets about people should be liable. Society has dealt with how to deal with people spreading rumors and falsehoods about people, and one of the solutions was libel laws. It is not surprising as the. US Supreme Court gutted those laws, and Congress gave safe harbor with section 230 to tech companies, that we have seen a huge spike in these problems. Hold Twitter, the posters, and any retweeters jointly and severally liable and watch the problem disappear.

jcranmer 5y ago
> I think Twitter and News Companies who repeat libelous and defamatory tweets about people should be liable. Actually, given how defamation works in the US, even without Section 230, it's very hard to see how they'd be liable. In the US, if the defamation is towards a public figure (which it is for every case you'll hear about), then it's not enough that the statement be demonstrably false, but it also has to be made with "actual malice." That means you need to demonstrate that the speaker either knew it was false or acted with reckless disregard as to its veracity. Since Twitter basically publishes everything its users do, there's no way it can form sufficient mens rea to defame anybody merely by publishing a tweet. Oh, and loosening up defamation law in the US would run afoul of this pesky thing called the First Amendment.