Mapping Digital Media: The Media and Liability for Content on the Internet

The Open Society Media Program has commissioned background papers on a range of topics that are important for understanding the effects of new technology on media and journalism. The papers accompany a series of reports, "Mapping Digital Media," on the impact of digitization on democracy in 60 countries around the world.

This paper provides an overview of content liability on the internet, with a focus on the risks to human rights as governments claim extended authority over this unique, borderless medium. Speakers may be liable for content online in many of the same ways as offline, but additional rules often exist. Many countries are enacting internet-specific speech laws, often imposing enhanced liability for online expression. In addition, some governments are extending broadcast-type regulations to online media, which could create new sources of liability.

The authors also examine new entities that may be subject to liability on the internet. In some countries, “intermediaries”—meaning internet service providers (ISPs), webhosts, and other platforms for online expression—can be held responsible for the speech of others, which can lead to self-protective and overly broad “private” censorship. Since most speakers rely on intermediaries to host or disseminate their content, intermediary liability can harm citizens’ and media institutions’ ability to speak online.

The internet’s borderless nature may complicate any assessment of what content laws apply, and thus what liability risk may arise. Addressing these complex challenges requires attention to several policy areas, including enacting legal protections for internet intermediaries, repealing internet content laws that enhance liability, and opposing further extension of broadcast regulation to the internet.

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