Experts See Limited or No Action on Section 230 in Wake of First High Court Argument

Alex Lawrence spoke to the National Law Journal about the U.S. Supreme Court's oral argument in Gonzalez v. Google, which focused on how private companies are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and could determine the future of YouTube and other platforms’ liability for content management.

According to Alex, the Justices appeared to see how big the issue was.

“Just saying ‘we’ll get to the liability stage and we’ll sort it out’ is cold comfort because one of the main reasons for Section 230 is to avoid overwhelming courts with cases,” he said, suggesting the plaintiffs bar in the U.S. isn’t struggling for creative lawyers looking to exploit any holes in a company’s liability.

He added: “It doesn’t take a genius to artfully plead when really what’s at issue is content that may have caused harm and it appears they recognized that.”

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