Socialinių tinklų atsakomybė už jų vartotojų skelbiamą informaciją ; The responsibility of social networks for information published by their users

Abstract

The Responsibility of Social Networks for Information Published by Their Users Nowadays, social networks with millions and even billions of users, not only guarantee an opportunity for people to communicate regardless of geographical and social constraints but also allow unlimited sharing of content created by themselves and others. At the same time social network platforms are significantly different from other internet intermediaries. Essential differences are caused by the ability of social network users to store and deliver large amounts of data in real time that can be stored and used in different formats. Therefore fundamental human rights and freedoms can be violated a lot faster and with greater damage. Information shared on popular social network platforms can get a lot more attention and public atraction than the information in press or other websites. Due to these substantial differences online intermediaries cannot be subject to the same legal regulation and should be given additional and exclusive attention compared to traditional intermediaries. In this context, the topic of social network liability for user-uploaded content is relevant for several reasons. Firstly, news about human rights and public interest violations committed on social media platforms are appearing more and more frequently. Secondly, national law is no longer capable of fighting online content with the increasing growth of social networks around the world. Thirdly, case-law of European Court of Human Rights, Court of Justice of the European Union and Lithuanian courts are still in development on this issue. Therefore, this paper analyzes the extent to which social networks are liable for user-generated information (i.e., web content) and the problems encountered in trying to regulate matters of intermediary liability.