Social Media Liability for User-Generated Content: Balancing Free Speech and Accountability

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17842399

Abstract

The tremendous expansion of social media platforms has changed the art of communication and people can now communicate with the outside world and express themselves like never before. However, this development has also spawned sophisticated legal issues surrounding the liability of the platforms to users who post on them. Whether or not intermediaries are responsible to defamatory, harmful, or illegal postings posted by their users is at the boundary between free speech, technological advancement, and regulation. In this paper, I present a critical analysis of the changing paradigms of the intermediary liability, both in the national and the international arena, and how the legal frameworks strive to achieve a balance between freedom of speech and accountability measures. By a comparative prism, it examines the strategies taken by jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, and Pakistan, and evaluates the manifestation of changing perceptions of the responsibility of platforms in both legal change and legal interpretation. This paper concludes that a moderate regulatory framework - a framework that protects constitutional rights and demands transparency and due diligence requirements of online platforms - is critical to maintain freedom of the online and responsibility of the population.

Keywords

Social media liability; intermediary responsibility; user-generated content; freedom of expression; accountability; defamation; digital regulation.