Content Moderation Case Study: Electric Truck Company Uses Copyright Claims To Hide Criticism (2020)
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20211110/15341947918/content-moderation-case-study-electric-truck-company-uses-copyright-claims-to-hide-criticism-2020.shtml
Summary: There are many content moderation challenges that companies face, but complications arise when users or companies try to make use of copyright law as a tool to block criticism. In the US, the laws around content that allegedly infringes on a copyright holder’s rights are different than most other types of content, and that creates some interesting challenges in the content moderation space.
Specifically, under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), online service providers who do not wish to be held liable for user-posted material that infringes copyright need to take a few steps to be free of liability. Key among those steps is having a “notice-and-takedown” process, in which a copyright holder can notify the website of allegedly infringing material; and if the website removes access to the work, it cannot be held liable for the infringement.