Article Proposes Takedown Procedure for Online "Cyberbullying" [1]

Pocket Part, the Yale Law Journal's online companion, recently published an article [2] proposing a take-down procedure for content it describes as "cyberbullying" -- essentially, online speech believed to be defamatory or harassing. The procedure would operate similarly to the DMCA takedown procedure (because that has worked so well), as ISPs would remove the content at issue after receiving a notice of its allegedly cyberbullying nature. In cases where ISPs were so warned, this proposal would strip the providers of their CDA 230 immunity from liability relating to third party content. As has been the case under the DMCA, this likely would lead providers to exercise caution by taking material down without question -- erasing valuable speech from the public dialogue.

(Matt C. Sanchez is a second-year law student at Harvard Law School and the CMLP's Legal Threats Editor.)