Did Big Tech just win big at the US Supreme Court? That seems to be the view of most commentators in the wake of Thursday’s unanimous decision in two cases that had the potential to challenge the so-called liability shield that protects internet service providers from liability for content posted by their users.
But I’m not so sure Big Tech won much at all. All the justices really did was kick the can down the road a bit. When the issue comes before them again — and it will, probably soon — there are at least four justices who seem willing to weaken or eliminate the liability shield.
The cases in question involved separate lawsuits, one against Google and one against Twitter, for allegedly abetting terrorist acts via content posted on their sites. In both cases, the defendants claimed that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act made them immune from suit. The arguments, which I’ve analyzed before, are complex. Suffice it to say that when the cases were argued in February, many observers thought the sky was about to fall. A decision against the ISPs, we were assured, would break the internet.
