LAW4048

Internet platforms like Google and Facebook play an enormous role in our online speech and information environment today. This class will review the intermediary liability laws that shape platforms' decisions about online content, and examine how successfully those laws achieve their goals. Students will be encouraged to think pragmatically about the legal, operational, and product design choices platforms may make in response to particular laws, drawing on the instructor's experience handling such questions as Associate General Counsel at Google. Readings and discussions will focus primarily on current US law, with some attention to European laws and to proposed or pending legislation. Important themes of the class include Constitutional and human rights constraints on intermediary liability laws; legal limits (or lack thereof) on platforms' enforcement of privatized speech rules under their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service; global enforcement of national laws requiring platforms to remove content; and connections between platform liability and other areas of law such as consumer protection or privacy. Students will be responsible for three written assignments. The longest will be a final paper of 15 pages. The other two will both be short responses to the week's reading. Up to three students, with consent of instructor, will have the option to write an independent research paper for 3 units. After the term begins, students (max 3) accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Students will be graded based on Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, and a Final Paper. Admission to the class is based on lottery, but in admitting students from the waitlist the instructor may prioritize based on students' degree programs.