Burke & Wu on Social Media Liability & Product Design

Caitlin Burke & Victor Wu have posted to SSRN Beyond Speech: Social Media Liability & Product Design. The abstract provides:

This article argues that contemporary debates over social media liability have been misconstrued as disputes about speech. Drawing on a breadth of interdisciplinary research in human-computer interaction, science and technology studies, psychology, medicine, media theory, and more, this article shows that social media today functions as an engineered environment akin to a designed consumer product rather than a neutral marketplace of ideas. By tracing key Section 230 cases, the evolution of communication law, and data privacy research, the article demonstrates that many platform harms can be regulated as matters of product architecture. This reframing allows lawmakers to target the mechanisms through which digital products generate risk without dismantling Section 230’s core speech immunity. It also offers a more accurate and constitutionally sustainable foundation for platform regulation moving forward.