CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Rekhviashvili, Mikheil |
|---|---|
| Title | Social Media Platforms Intermediary Liability for User Content: Germany and the US - Comparative Analysis |
| Summary | Social media platforms (SMPs) are mediums for users to exercise their public rights, but can also be used for unlawful and/or unhealthy purposes such as terrorist recruitment, pornography dissemination, election interference, etc. The question of whether and to what extent SMPs should be liable for their users’ activities is more relevant than ever, and states’ regulatory responses differ. While the US has opted for a more hands-off approach, Germany enacted a regulation imposing strict content moderation obligations on SMPs. Drawing from legal and economic sources, this thesis argues that content moderation and the creation of “healthy” content are valuable to all parties concerned – states, SMPs, and users. Moving from this premise, it compares the US Communications Decency Act (CDA) and Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) to assess which regime better achieves the goal of promoting “healthy” SMP environments. My conclusion is that the NetzDG is the way to go. First, under § 230 of the CDA, SMPs’ content moderation practices are sometimes skewed. Second, largely privatized content moderation lacks elements of due process while users are exercising their public rights. Third, it lacks transparency. On the other hand, under the NetzDG unlawful content is to be taken down in 24 hours or 7 days. Further, lawful content is to be reinstated; users get to appeal the decisions of SMPs and receive reasoning. Additionally, the NetzDG does not cause collateral censorship. However, the NetzDG still requires improvement – e.g. differentiating between the types of unlawful content and subsequent moderation timeframes |
| Supervisor | Tommaso Soave |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/rekhviashvili_mikhei.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University