Google warns Supreme Court could ‘upend the internet’ through Section 230 changes
Christopher Hutton
Video Embed
Google said that a decision in the Supreme Court case regarding terrorist content and Youtube’s algorithm could change the internet for the worse.
The search engine argued in a brief filed on Thursday that Gonzalez v. Google, a case for which the court will hear oral arguments next month, could transform the internet. Google implored the courts to uphold existing interpretations of Section 230, a law that protects websites from being penalized for content posted by their users.
TRUMP DISCUSSED USING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN 2017: REPORT
“This Court should decline to adopt novel and untested theories that risk transforming today’s internet into a forced choice between overly curated mainstream sites or fringe sites flooded with objectionable content,” the tech company argued.
Gonzalez v. Google relates to a lawsuit by Reynaldo Gonzalez, who sued Google under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act after his daughter was killed during a 2015 Islamic State attack in Paris. Gonzalez said that Google assisted ISIS by hosting its recruitment videos on YouTube and argued that Google “recommended ISIS videos to users” via its algorithm, thus making it liable for helping the terrorist organization.
The search engine argues Section 230 protects it from any liability and that it isn’t possible to draw a meaningful connection between the YouTube algorithm promoting a certain clip based on viewing habits and the company’s view on terrorism. Google argued that it “abhors terrorism and over the years has taken increasingly effective actions to remove terrorist and other potentially harmful content.”
It also said that changing “Section 230 … would upend the internet and perversely encourage both wide-ranging suppression of speech and the proliferation of more offensive speech.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lower courts previously ruled in Google’s favor, saying that it was protected by Section 230 due to a broad interpretation in which Google isn’t treated as liable due to ISIS creating the content and the algorithm treating the videos the same as others. Justice Clarence Thomas has expressed an eagerness to challenge this broad interpretation.
Google is scheduled to appear before the court on Feb. 21, when the company will make oral arguments. The case will be followed by Twitter v. Taamneh, which concerns similar arguments relating to Twitter’s hosting of ISIS propaganda in the early 2010s.