Foundations of Internet Speech Platform Regulation

Catalog description

(LAW 4051) Internet platforms like Google and Facebook play an enormous role in our online speech and information environment today. Review of laws that shape platforms' decisions about online content with primary focus on intermediary liability laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Communications Decency Act Section 230 (CDA 230), and EU's eCommerce Directive. Majority of course material will be from the U.S., but some will explore international models and in particular recently enacted laws in the EU. Important themes include Constitutional and human rights constraints on intermediary liability laws; legal limits (or lack thereof) on platforms' enforcement of privatized speech rules under their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service; global enforcement of national laws requiring platforms to remove content; and tensions between goals of intermediary liability law and those of privacy, competition, and other legal frameworks. Students encouraged to think pragmatically about legal, operational, and product design choices platforms may make in response to particular laws, drawing on instructor's experience handling such questions as Associate General Counsel at Google. Open to law students and students in the Master's in International Policy (MIP) program. Enrollment cap at 35 students (25 students from SLS admitted by lottery; up to 10 from MIP admitted by instructor consent).