timothymarkley@kaltmanlaw.com | 4/18/2023

In this episode attorney, Keith Altman joins us to discuss his recent trip to the US Supreme Court. Attorney Keith Altman was a critical participant in two recent cases and was there when these cases were argued before the supreme court. He gives us his insight into the issues and provides a view into how the supreme court works.  

Google v. Gonzalez and Twitter v. Taamneh are the two cases currently pending before the Supreme Court of the United States. In both cases, the plaintiffs are suing social media companies for allegedly aiding and abetting international terrorism by allowing ISIS to use their platforms to spread propaganda and recruit members.

In Google v. Gonzalez, the plaintiff is the father of a young man who was killed in a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015. The plaintiff alleges that Google aided and abetted the attack by allowing ISIS to use YouTube to post videos of beheadings and other violent acts.

In Twitter v. Taamneh Keith, the plaintiff is a former U.S. Army soldier injured in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2007. The plaintiff alleges that Twitter aided and abetted the bombing by allowing ISIS to use Twitter to post threats and propaganda.

Both cases raise the question of whether social media companies can be held liable for their users' content. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, social media companies are generally immune from liability for content that their users post. However, there is an exception to this immunity for cases where the social media company "knows or has reason to know" that the content is unlawful. 

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