Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – The U.S. Supreme Court handed internet and social media companies a pair of victories, leaving legal protections for them unscathed and refusing to clear a path for victims of attacks by militant groups to sue these businesses under an anti-terrorism law.
The justices in a case involving Google LLC’s video-sharing platform YouTube, both part of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), sidestepped making a ruling on a bid to weaken a federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that safeguards internet companies from lawsuits for content posted by users.
They also shielded Twitter Inc in a separate case from litigation seeking to apply a federal law called the Anti-Terrorism Act that enables Americans to recover damages related to “an act of international terrorism.”
In both cases, families of people killed by Islamist gunmen overseas had sued to try to hold internet companies liable because of the presence of militant groups on their platforms or for recommending their content.
