Should Google Executive Convictions Worry Social Media Providers?

February 24, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

February 24, 2010 – Yesterday an Italian court ended a closely followed case involving Google executives. A guilty verdict was handed down, which means each of the three men convicted face six months in prison.

What was the crime? According to the prosecution, four Google executives were legally responsible for a computer user’s ability to upload a video, in which a young man with Down Syndrome was was bullied by four classmates. The court’s opinion reflected their view that the act infringed upon the victim’s privacy.

According to a Reuters report, Alfredo Robles, the Italian prosecutor, told reporters afterward, “A company’s rights cannot prevail over a person’s dignity. This sentence sends a clear signal.” While Google insisted that it removed the video immediately upon receiving complaints, the Italian government maintained the video remained online for up to two months after being notified.

Despite the fact that the sentences themselves are likely to be suspended, the act of the conviction should raise concern for social media providers and users, alike. There is no doubt about the heinous nature of the Italian video, but there is doubt regarding Google’s culpability in the matter. Social media websites, such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, provide users the ability to post and share messages and media.

Upon registering to use it, each site clearly lists their respective Terms of Use, which include restrictions about copyrighted material and illegal content. If the user does not comply, they are in the wrong, not the company. If a drunk driver kills another motorist, who is charged? Is it the driver or the maker of the alcohol he consumed? Of course, it is the driver because he or she chose to commit the criminal act, not the company.

In this case, though, the allegation wasn’t even that it was uploaded. It was that Google didn’t remove it fast enough. So, instead of having to worry about the fact that material such as this might be uploaded, are social media providers supposed to also worry about the need to constantly monitor user activities and content, in order to immediately delete it?

The bottom line is that people are the cause of this problem, not the social network, the hosting provider, or the hardware on which the site runs. It is each and every user’s responsibility to monitor thir own activities and think before hitting . Unfortunately, this case only reminds us that social networks can not only bring us together but can also divide us through the occurrence of incidents such as this. In the end, if we don’t police ourselves and other users, the companies may decide the risk of legal liability is too high and simply pull the plug. If that happens, we’ll just have to go back to offending each other via the old-time methods…like email and instant messages.