On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard arguments on a potential landmark case Gonzalez v. Google challenging Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act which has shielded Big Tech companies from any liability for their actions. Despite the historic nature of the case that could finally put a check on the Big Tech tyrants, ABC's World News Tonight completely ignored the Supreme Court arguments during their Tuesday evening broadcast.
Instead of reporting on the hearings in Gonzalez v. Google, ABC's World News Tonight spent an entire segment on the 10th anniversary of Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts returning from time off for cancer treatment.
Opening the segment, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell reported that "the Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case that could upend the internet as we know it. The argument is over whether popular tech companies like TikTok and Google can be liable for harmful user-generated content on their sites."
As NewsBusters has previously reported, the case surrounds the death of ten-year-old Nylah Anderson. During her report, justice correspondent Jan Crawford summarized Anderson's case:
Nylah died in December 2021 after attempting the so-called blackout challenge which she had seen him seen on TikTok. She’s one of at least 15 children aged 12 and under that have died in just 18 months as a result of the challenge. Like other social media outlets, TikTok's algorithms recommend videos and other content to users. Anderson said that feature led to Nylah's death.
Over on NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt opened by noting how the "potential landmark case before the Supreme Court that could change the internet as we know it."
For her part, NBC's senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett reported how "it's the latest pushback against big tech. A Supreme Court case that could transform social media. The justices now deciding if companies can be sued for personalizing what you see online."
"At the heart of the dispute, a federal law known as Section 230, which shields websites from lawsuits over what people post online," Jarrett noted before pointing out that "several justices suggested changes in the law are best left up to Congress."
This bias by omission from ABC was made possible by ADT. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcripts, click "expand":
CBS Evening News
2/21/2023
6:41:48 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: The Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case that could upend the internet as we know it. The argument is over whether popular tech companies like TikTok and Google can be liable for harmful user-generated content on their sites. CBS's Jan Crawford spoke with one mother who says that the price of internet freedom is too high.
JAN CRAWFORD: Ten years old, always smiling, Nylah Anderson was such a shining star.
TAWAINNA ANDERSON: She was my butterfly. She was everything. Anything we could ask for.
CRAWFORD: Nylah died in December 2021 after attempting the so-called blackout challenge which she had seen him seen on TikTok. She’s one of at least 15 children aged 12 and under that have died in just 18 months as a result of the challenge. Like other social media outlets, TikTok's algorithms recommend videos and other content to users. Anderson said that feature led to Nylah's death.
ANDERSON: They are actually feeding it to our children, they are sending over videos that they never even searched before.
CRAWFORD: In a statement to CBS, TikTok said that dangerous challenges are strictly prohibited on our platform and promptly removed if found. Anderson sued Tiktok and has filed papers in the case now before the Supreme Court for the first time could hold tech companies accountable for some of the information and videos they are recommending to users. The companies say a 1996 federal law shields them from liability, that the modern internet would not exist if companies couldn’t sort and recommend third-party content to users. Free speech advocates say social media companies have rights similar to newspapers deciding what articles to publish.
MUKUND RATHI: People criticized social media platforms today and they have the right to criticize them, but they don't have the right to illegally force them to publish certain content, to not recommend other types of content, and so on.
CRAWFORD: But for Anderson and other grieving parents, that has to change.
ANDERSON: How many more kids until it comes to an end? How many more? That's my question to them. How many more children until this stops?
CRAWFORD: A mother continuing to fight for answers. Jan Crawford, CBS News Philadelphia.
NBC Nightly News
2/21/2023
6:44:20 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: A potential landmark case before the Supreme Court that could change the internet as we know it. Laura Jarrett is at the court with the arguments and what the judges signaled today.
LAURA JARRETT: It's the latest pushback against big tech. A Supreme Court case that could transform social media. The justices now deciding if companies can be sued for personalizing what you see online.
JOSE HERNANDEZ: Hopefully, this will change the internet.
JARRETT: The family of Noemi Gonzalez argues YouTube is liable for the death of their 23-year-old daughter. Killed in 2015 when ISIS terrorists attacked a bistro in Paris. Her family saying YouTube has not only allowed ISIS to post hundreds of videos on the site but steers would-be terrorists to more radicalizing content right here under “up next”, using sophisticated algorithms that predict what people want to watch based on what they've viewed in the past. But in arguments today, justices seemed skeptical that the tech giant should be on the hook for a central feature of how the internet now works.
JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO: I don't know where you're drawing the line. That's the problem.
JARRETT: At the heart of the dispute, a federal law known as Section 230, which shields websites from lawsuits over what people post online. Several justices suggested changes in the law are best left up to Congress.
JUSTICE ELENA KEGAN: We're a court. We really don't know about these things. You know, these are not, like, the nine greatest experts on the internet.
JARRETT: Tomorrow the court will hear another case about tech liability. That one against Twitter. Decisions in both cases are expected in June. Lester?
