On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ben Sperry, a senior scholar at the International Center for Law and Economics, to explore the shifting landscape of social media litigation. We dive deep into recent court rulings in California and New Mexico that challenge the historical protections of Section 230 by focusing on product design rather than hosted content (see a recent piece by Ben, "Treating Speech as a Bug, Not a Feature," for more background). Among other things, we discuss:
- Why the shift from content-based liability to product design claims might permanently dismantle the protections afforded by Section 230
- How the threat of punitive damages may force platforms to implement aggressive age-gating and collateral censorship measures
- Whether applying product liability standards to algorithmic recommendation features creates friction with First Amendment principles
- Whether smaller tech entrants and startups can survive a legal environment defined by constant litigation and high compliance costs
- What the recent jury verdicts against Meta and Google signal for the future of algorithmic curation across the broader internet ecosystem
- When the focus on addictive design features like infinite scroll will begin to impact other services like streaming platforms
- How generative AI and large language models will be categorized under speech laws if Section 230 remains inapplicable
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