Skip to main content
Article
In a World of "Fake News," What's a Social Media Platform to Do?
Utah Law Review (2020)
  • Evelyn Aswad
Abstract
While the circulation of disinformation and misinformation online can pose a variety of risks to societies around the world, it should also be of concern that overreacting to such false information can undermine human rights, including freedom of expression. The business operations of global social media platforms frequently intersect with this latter concern because of a spike in the adoption of national laws that ban “fake news” as well as their own platform policies to tackle false information. This Essay assesses the corporate responsibility standards afforded by the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and explains several key ways in which the guidance that these instruments provide is relevant to social media companies in tackling false information on their platforms, including with respect to their micro-targeting practices.
Keywords
  • business and human rights,
  • human rights,
  • freedom of expression,
  • freedom of speech,
  • misinformation,
  • disinformation,
  • micro-targeting,
  • social media,
  • cyberspace,
  • international human rights law
Publication Date
2020
Citation Information
Evelyn Aswad. "In a World of "Fake News," What's a Social Media Platform to Do?" Utah Law Review Vol. 2020 Iss. 4 (2020) p. 1009
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/evelyn_aswad/16/