Suing YouTube for hate speech?

Nevermind copyright infringement, what happens when a content sharing site hosts content that amounts to hate speech? If you are in the group of people targeted by that content, do you sue for its removal? There is a chance that could happen in Germany where Jewish community groups may take action against Google for hosting Nazi propaganda video clips on YouTube. It raises an interesting question. Hate speech is not protected by the right to freedom of expression in our Bill of Rights as well as in a number of similar Constitutional provisions in foreign jurisdictions.

If there is content that amounts to hate speech and which is available in a country which outlaws it (like South Africa), we could start to see community activists taking action against the services that host that content. It would be really interesting to see how differing standards of free expression are dealt with and whether that content may be blocked in one country and allowed in another or simply removed altogether? I wonder what would happen if content qualified for protection under a country’s free expression laws and was banned under another?

That would be an interesting case …


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  1. […] Suing YouTube for hate speech? » This Summary is from an article posted at Jacobson Attorneys — Legal services for people who do […]

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