YouTube and Reddit are sued for allegedly enabling the racist mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 dead::The complementary lawsuits claim that the massacre in 2022 was made possible by tech giants, a local gun shop, and the gunman’s parents.
Ok so isn’t the issue at hand whether the sites are to blame?
let’s break this down so I can answer you in what I think is an honest way:
- Are the sites legally responsible for the content they host, generally speaking and/or in this context of radicalization and such subsequent results as these?
and
- Do these sites bear any social/moral responsibility to moderate their more extreme content in good faith to try to prevent this sort of result?
and
- Is there an overlap of 1 and 2?
1 - this is for a court to decide. I’m not familiar enough with the very specifics of case law or with the suits being brought to know exactly what is being alleged, etc. I can’t opine on this other that to say that, from what I do know, it’s unlikely that a court would hold these sites legally responsible.
2 - I fully believe that, yes, sites like these, massive, general-use public sites have a social and moral responsibility to keep their platforms safe. How and what that means is a matter for much debate, and I’m sure people here will do just that.
3 - is there overlap? again, legally, I’m not sure, but there might be, and in the near future, there might be much more. also, should there be more? another subject for debate.
