Facebook Used Takedown and it Was Super Effective - Finding a Framework for Protecting User Rights of Expression on Social Networking Sites
64 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2013
Date Written: April 16, 2013
Abstract
Social networking sites, such as Facebook, have become integral components of modern society. They serve not only as a platform of social communication, but also as a forum for commercial and political interactions. Yet social networking sites engage in unchecked acts of censorship when they take down content posted by users or delete user accounts. Users might expect the First Amendment to apply to protect their speech. However, First Amendment protections are not likely to actually apply in this context because of threshold hurdles, such as the state action requirement. As such, this Note suggests that consumer protection rationales can provide an alternative framework for limiting the censorial power of social networking sites.
Keywords: First Amendment, censorship, social networking sites, consumer protection, Facebook, Twitter
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