ABSTRACT
A 2020 article in the Georgetown Law Journal by Professor Rory Van Loo urges changing the common law to make internet gatekeepers such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook strictly liable for wrongs accomplished through the use of their platforms, even when the gatekeeper did nothing wrong and the actual wrongdoer was not an agent or employee of the gatekeeper. This Article argues that the Van Loo proposal should be rejected. The Van Loo proposal generates results contrary to the common sense of justice. It also goes too far in reducing liberty, privacy, and free speech. To minimize their liability under the Van Loo standard, internet companies would have to monitor and regulate the personal lives of their users in minute detail. Moreover, prosecutors could use the threat of liability under the Van Loo standard to turn internet gatekeepers into government censors and police spies.
Harris, Daniel, Article: The Case Against Vicarious Gatekeeper Liability (August 16, 2022), 21 Florida State University Business Review 43.
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