This piece is a four-part blog series surveying international intermediary liability laws. Most internet users worldwide interact with online intermediaries – including internet service providers (ISPs), search engines, and social media platforms – regularly. These companies play an essential role in enabling access to information and connecting people across the globe and are significant drivers of economic growth and innovation.
As a result, the policies that intermediaries adopt to govern online marketplaces and platforms significantly shape users’ social, economic, and political lives. Such policies have major implications for users’ fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to privacy.
This increasingly powerful role played by intermediaries in modern society has prompted a host of policy concerns. One key policy challenge is defining online intermediaries’ legal liability for harms caused by content generated or shared by – or activities carried out by – their users or other third parties.
The piece introduced some background information and explored the global shifts in approaches to intermediary liability laws. Part Two unpacked the different approaches to intermediary liability and looked at regulatory "dials and knobs" available to policymakers. Part Three looked at some new developments taking place around the world. Finally, Part Four dived into EFF’s perspective and provided some recommendations for the future of global intermediary liability policy.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2022. https://ifex.org/platform-liability-trends-around-the-world-from-safe-harbours-to-increased