DOJ Lawyers Target Social Media Algorithms

Story: Mohd Javed

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the US Supreme Court to securitize the the algorithms of social media platforms.

In a recent Supreme Court filing, the US DOJ argued that social media platforms should be held responsible for some of the ways their algorithms decide what content to put in front of users.

Algorithms used by YouTube and other providers should be subject to a different kind of scrutiny, the DOJ lawyers said.

They also called for the Supreme Court to return Nohemi Gonzalez case to the 9th Circuit for further review.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, the Biden administration told the US Supreme Court that social media companies in some cases can be held liable for promoting harmful speech.

The US Supreme Court was hearing the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old US citizen who was killed by ISIS in Paris in November 2015.

Her family argued that YouTube, which Google owns, violated the Anti-Terrorism Act because its algorithms recommended ISIS-related content.