How two supreme court battles could reshape the rules of the internet

At center, Jose Hernandez and Beatriz Gonzalez, stepfather and mother of  Nohemi Gonzalez, who died in a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, exit the court on Tuesday. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A pair of cases going before the US supreme court this week could drastically upend the rules of the internet, putting a powerful, decades-old statute in the crosshairs.

At stake is a question that has been foundational to the rise of big tech: should companies be legally responsible for the content their users post? Thus far they have evaded liability, but some US lawmakers and others want to change that. And new lawsuits are bringing the statute before the supreme court for the first time.