Free Speech For People recently held an online briefing to discuss the organization’s amicus brief in the pending case before the Supreme Court, Gonzalez v Google, and the Big Tech Accountability Act.

Last December, FSFP filed a friend of the court brief in support of the petitioners in this case following a Ninth Circuit Court ruling that declared Google to be wholly immune from lawsuits arising from its recommendations of content posted on YouTube. The organization urged the Supreme Court to reject the Ninth Court’s flawed interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and reverse the lower court’s decision.

“The reality is, making recommendations, curating content to amplify certain messages to certain users are not a necessary component of hosting these platforms. In fact, Youtube didn’t roll out its recommendation for several years…But companies like Google have realized they can deploy algorithms to make recommendations and curate content. And the goal is to keep users on the platform, keep them clicking videos, and therefore maximizing profit,” said Senior Counsel Courtney Hostetler.

“Whatever the Supreme Court does in [Gonzalez vs Google], the problem will remain and the problem will get worse until we have comprehensive federal legislation to regulate Big Tech. And that is why we have drafted and are promoting the Big Tech Accountability Act,” said Chairman and Senior Legal Advisor Ben Clements.

Learn more about our amicus brief in Gonzalez v Google here.

Learn more about the Big Tech Accountability Act here.