Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

2 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

2 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

2 hours ago

Paramount Settles With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

2 hours ago

Republicans Tee up House Vote on Trump Bill, Outcome Uncertain

2 hours ago

What’s Next for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs After His Sex Trafficking Trial?

3 hours ago

Dalai Lama Says He Will Be Reincarnated, Trust Will Identify Successor

3 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

2 days ago
Supreme Court Looks at Law That Helped Shape Modern Internet
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
February 21, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Supreme Court is taking up its first case about a federal law that is credited with helping create the modern internet by shielding Google, Twitter, Facebook and other companies from lawsuits over content posted on their sites by others.

The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday about whether the family of an American college student killed in a terrorist attack in Paris can sue Google for helping extremists spread their message and attract new recruits.

The case is the court’s first look at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, adopted early in the internet age, in 1996, to protect companies from being sued over information their users post online.

Lower courts have broadly interpreted the law to protect the industry, which the companies and their allies say has fueled the meteoric growth of the internet and encouraged the removal of harmful content.

But critics argue that the companies have not done nearly enough and that the law should not block lawsuits over the recommendations, generated by computer algorithms, that point viewers to more material that interests them and keeps them online longer.

Any narrowing of their immunity could have dramatic consequences that could affect every corner of the internet because websites use algorithms to sort and filter a mountain of data.

“Recommendation algorithms are what make it possible to find the needles in humanity’s largest haystack,” Google’s lawyers wrote in their main Supreme Court brief.

In response, the lawyers for the victim’s family questioned the prediction of dire consequences. “There is, on the other hand, no denying that the materials being promoted on social media sites have in fact caused serious harm,” the lawyers wrote.

The lawsuit was filed by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old senior at Cal State Long Beach who was spending a semester in Paris studying industrial design. She was killed by Islamic State gunmen in a series of attacks that left 130 people dead in November 2015.

The Gonzalez family alleges that Google-owned YouTube aided and abetted the Islamic State group by recommending its videos to viewers most likely to be interested in them, in violation of the federal Anti-Terrorism Act.

Lower courts sided with Google.

A related case, set for arguments Wednesday, involves a terrorist attack at a nightclub in Istanbul in 2017 that killed 39 people and prompted a lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook and Google.

Separate challenges to social media laws enacted by Republicans in Florida and Texas are pending before the high court, but they will not be argued before the fall and decisions probably won’t come until the first half of 2024.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

DON'T MISS

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

DON'T MISS

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

DON'T MISS

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

DON'T MISS

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

DON'T MISS

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

DON'T MISS

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

DON'T MISS

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Logan Ryan Martin

DON'T MISS

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

UP NEXT

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

UP NEXT

US Senate Strikes AI Regulation Ban From Trump Megabill

UP NEXT

Apple Loses Bid to Dismiss US Smartphone Monopoly Case

UP NEXT

Teamsters President Urges Congress to Scrap AI State Law Ban

UP NEXT

Iran Says No Nuclear Talks Under Fire, UN Atomic Watchdog Urges Maximum Restraint

UP NEXT

Massive Security Breach: 16 Billion Passwords Leaked From Apple, Google, Facebook Accounts

UP NEXT

SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes in Setback to Musk’s Mars Mission

UP NEXT

Meta in Talks to Hire Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to Join AI Efforts, The Information Reports

UP NEXT

What Is Juneteenth and When Did It Become a US Federal Holiday?

UP NEXT

US B-2 Bombers, Bunker-Busters and Alternatives

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

1 hour ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

1 hour ago

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

1 hour ago

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

2 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Logan Ryan Martin

2 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

2 hours ago

Meta’s Instagram Down for Thousands of Users in US, Downdetector Shows

2 hours ago

Paramount Settles With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

2 hours ago

Republicans Tee up House Vote on Trump Bill, Outcome Uncertain

2 hours ago

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

The Israeli military’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip has reached a tipping point — not just in terms of human suffering and infras...

12 minutes ago

A general view shows destruction in North Gaza, as seen from Israel, May 27, 2025 (REUTERS/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
12 minutes ago

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

San Francisco Housing Development
31 minutes ago

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court, in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., September 13, 2023. (Reuters File)
35 minutes ago

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

1 hour ago

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

1 hour ago

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

A makeshift memorial for victims of the MS-13 gang in Central Islip, N.Y., Aug. 28, 2017. Top gang leaders being sent back to El Salvador were part of a lengthy federal investigation that has amassed evidence of a corrupt pact between the government of President Nayib Bukele government and MS-13. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

The Ukrainian and U.S. national flags fly outside a building, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend