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I. INTRODUCTION
1. Twitter is an information content provider.
Twitter creates and develops
content,
in whole or i n part, through a combinati on of means: (a) by explicit censor ship
1
See Title 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(3)
. The word
responsible
ordinarily has a normative connotation.
See
The Oxford English Dictionary 742 (2
nd
ed. 1998) (stating one definition of
responsible
as “Morally accountable for one’s actions.”). As one authority puts it: “[W]hen we s ay, ‘Every man is
responsible
for his own actions,’ we do not think definitely of any authority, law, or tribunal before which he must answer, but rather of the general law of right, the moral constitution of the universe....” James C. Fernald, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions 366 (1947). Synonyms for
responsibility
in this context are
blame, fault, guilt,
and
culpability. See
Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus 747 (2
nd
ed. 2008). Accordingly, to be “responsible” for the development of offensive content, such as defamation, one must be more than a neutral conduit for that content. One is not “responsible” for the development of offensive content if one’s conduct was neutral with respect to the offensiveness of the content (as w ould be the case with the ty pical Internet bulletin board). We would not ordinarily say that one who builds a highway is “responsible” for the use of that highway by a fleeing bank robber, even though the culprit’s escape was facilitated by the availability of the highway. Twitter is “responsible” for the development of offensive content on its platform because it in some way specifically encourages development of what is offensive about the content.
FTC v. Accusearch, Inc.
, 570 F.3d 1187, 1198-1199 (10
th
Cir. 2009) (citing
Fair Housing of Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, L LC
, 521 F.3d 1157, 1168 (9
th
Cir. 2008) (“a website helps to develop unlawful content …if it contributes materially to the alleged illegality of the conduct.”).
2
The word
develop
derives from the Old French
desveloper,
which means, in essence, to unwrap. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 618 (2002) (explaining that
developer
is composed of the word
veloper,
meaning “to wrap up,” and the negative prefix
des
). The dictionary definitions for
develop
correspondingly revolve around the act of drawing something out, making it “visible,” “active,” or “usable.”
Id.
Thus, a photograph is developed by chemical processes exposing a latent image.
See id.
Land is developed by harnessing its untapped potential for building or for extracting resources.
See id.
Likewise, when confidential inf ormation is exposed to public view that information is “developed.”
See id.
(one definition of
develop
is “to make actually available or usable (something previously only potentially available or usable)”).
FTC v. Accusearch, Inc.
, 570 F.3d 1187, 1198 (10
th
Cir. 2009).
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