Supreme Court weighs liability shield for big tech

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A lawsuit against YouTube from the family of an American college student who was killed by Islamic State gunmen in Paris in 2015 is at the center of a closely watched Supreme Court case being argued Tuesday.

The family of Nohemi Gonzalez claims that YouTube’s recommendations helped the Islamic State group’s recruitment. At issue is how broadly a law written in 1996 shields tech companies from liability.

The law is credited with helping create today’s internet.

The high court is taking its first hard look at online legal protections as the industry faces criticism from the left for not doing enough to remove harmful content from the internet and from the right for censoring conservative speech.

Some experts question whether the justices are equipped to make a sound decision partly because they don’t use social media enough to fully understand it.

How the courts rule could be a gamechanger for American law, society and social media platforms.

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