News
With the invasion of the Capitol in the United States and the rise of leaders with populist speeches, the theme of freedom of expression and the dissemination of hate messages on social networks has become even stronger. Nevertheless, serving as a vehicle to disseminate these messages does not generally result in criminal liability for the platforms. Speaking to Jornal de Negócios, Martim Bouza Serrano, Partner and Managing Associate of CCA's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Department, explains how social networks are exempt from criminal liability in these situations.
"The social network is not responsible for the contents it hosts unless it is aware that they are clearly illegal and does nothing to remove them or make it impossible to access them immediately". As a general rule, adds the CCA partner, "social networks are exempt because there is this widespread idea that it is impossible to control, at all times, each of the thousands of contents that its users decide to broadcast".
The approval and the implementation of the Digital Services Act will surely "revolutionize and radically change the role and responsibility of these operators", but Martim Bouza Serrano believes that "the abovementioned diploma is far from being consensual, so it is impossible to predict when it will be implemented and will become effective in the various European countries".
- See PDF
- Jornal de Negócios