Civil and Municipal - Mar 2023

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 Source- Axios.com, Sam Baker, Ashley Gold, first published Feb 20th The firestorm over Big Tech and content moderation is coming to a head at the Supreme Court — but some experts fear it’s a job the court simply isn’t equipped to do well. Why it matters: The court has historically not been great at grappling with new technology. As it dives into the political battle over social-media algorithms, there’s a real fear that the justices could end up creating more controversies than they solve. Driving the news: The court is set to hear arguments this week in two cases involving Section 230, the federal law that says tech platforms aren’t liable for what their users choose to post. • Both lawsuits — one against Google, and one against Twitter — argue that while tech companies may not be liable for the content of users’ posts, they should be liable for what their algorithms promote or suggest. • The implications of such a decision may not be fully apparent for years, even to the engineers who work on those products. “The court might think it’s doing one thing BIG TECH’S FUTURE IS UP TO A SUPREME COURT THAT DOESN’T UNDERSTAND IT OPENING LINES