The status of online intermediaries
Who answers for online content: publisher and intermediaries, the host's limited liability, notice and action, and the Digital Services Act duties by service size.
- 24 cards
- 4 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
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- Scenarios
A few cards from the deck
Publisher liability: what is it?
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The regime of whoever chooses and posts content: it answers for what it publishes like an author, without waiting for a report.
A newspaper is publisher of its articles, but not of readers' comments, which it merely hosts. Status depends on the role played for each piece of content.
Which element must a valid report sent to a host contain?
- The exact address of the content and an explanation of why it is illegal
- A formal notice served on the host by a bailiff
- A court decision that already finds the reported content to be illegal
- The content author's name and home address
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The exact address of the content and an explanation of why it is illegal
The report must be precise enough for the host to know what to remove and why. Neither a bailiff nor a prior judgment is required; the author's identity is not the reporter's, who must identify themselves.
A host is not liable for stored content if it had no … of the illegal content or if it … removed it as soon as it knew.
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A host is not liable for stored content if it had no actual knowledge of the illegal content or if it promptly removed it as soon as it knew.
A host's liability is secondary: it requires that it knew, then let it stay. Without a precise report, it is hard to prove it knew.
Host's limited liability: what is it?
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A regime that excludes liability for whoever stores third-party content, unless it knows the content is illegal and does not remove it promptly.
Two cumulative conditions remove the exemption: actual knowledge of the illegal content, then inaction. No general monitoring of content is required.
A forum receives a precise report of a defamatory message and leaves it online for three weeks. Which condition is met, and with what consequence?
- Actual knowledge without prompt removal; the forum's liability is engaged
- No general monitoring; the forum stays exempt
- Status as publisher of the message; only the author answers for the delay
- A legal six-month period to act; the forum has nothing to fear yet
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Actual knowledge without prompt removal; the forum's liability is engaged
The precise report creates actual knowledge; three weeks without reaction is not prompt removal. The forum then loses its exemption for that message, without becoming a publisher.