EU's Top Court Just Made It Impossible to Run a User-Generated Platform Legally
EU’s Top Court Just Made It Literally Impossible To Run A User-Generated Content Platform Legally
The Court of Justice of the EU—likely without realizing it—just completely shit the bed and made it effectively impossible to run any website in the entirety of the EU that hosts user-generated con…Techdirt

Cochise
in reply to Arthur Besse • • •Not really. The decision only states that a service that allows to publish advertisements with personal information must review these and make sure it's they have the consent. Something all "gone wild" subreddits do with volunteers. A company that runs advertisements should be able to.
A company that publishes ads for sexual services without getting confirmation of consent is a risk for the society and this business model should not be allowed.
Arthur Besse
in reply to Cochise • • •
... Show more...::: spoiler Did you post this after reading only the beginning of the article? Because, around the middle of it, the author foresees and responds to your comment:
::: spoiler Did you post this after reading only the beginning of the article? Because, around the middle of it, the author foresees and responds to your comment:
Here are some relevant parts of what the court actually wrote:
It seems to me that the fact that the nature of the content was itself advertising is not the relevant thing here, but rather the fact that the website had a commercial purpose is. So, maybe this will only apply to websites operated for commercial purposes? 🤔
(I am not a lawyer...)
Is there something I missed which indicates that the sexual nature of the advertisement was a factor in the court's decision?
:::
CURIA - Documents
curia.europa.euCochise
in reply to Arthur Besse • • •What is relevant: "for its own commercial purposes. In that regard, the general terms and conditions of use of that marketplace give Russmedia considerable freedom to exploit the information published on that marketplace."
This turns the marketplace in a business that must have responsibilities and duty to care because they not only host the content, but process it.
Hosting is defined on paragraph 6. It does not involve processing of information. You user hit publish, it is published without any processing and and you don't claim right to "use published content, distribute it, transmit it, reproduce it, modify it, translate it, transfer it to partners and remove it at any time, without the need for any ‘valid’ reason for so doing.".
The GDPR don't claim you are responsible for merely hosting personal information, but you become responsible by processing it. "The processing of personal data should be designed to serve mankind."
The point is: you can run a lemmy instance, have people publishing shitposts all day in a hands off moderation policy. O
... Show more...What is relevant: "for its own commercial purposes. In that regard, the general terms and conditions of use of that marketplace give Russmedia considerable freedom to exploit the information published on that marketplace."
This turns the marketplace in a business that must have responsibilities and duty to care because they not only host the content, but process it.
Hosting is defined on paragraph 6. It does not involve processing of information. You user hit publish, it is published without any processing and and you don't claim right to "use published content, distribute it, transmit it, reproduce it, modify it, translate it, transfer it to partners and remove it at any time, without the need for any ‘valid’ reason for so doing.".
The GDPR don't claim you are responsible for merely hosting personal information, but you become responsible by processing it. "The processing of personal data should be designed to serve mankind."
The point is: you can run a lemmy instance, have people publishing shitposts all day in a hands off moderation policy. One day someone posts a doxxing. As soon you are told, you delete and it's OK. But you can't run a business where you invite people to post doxxing information, you claim rights to distribute this information, and them say you are only hosting it, and not processing it.
The problem is the site want the cake (free harbour immunity) and eat it (gain rights to profit from the published content).
eldavi
in reply to Arthur Besse • • •this reads as both unfeasible or contradictory to existing laws (eg section 230).
this feels like another example of law makers making law w/o understanding what they're proscribing
Arthur Besse
in reply to eldavi • • •Section 230 is US law; this article is about the EU and GDPR.
Operating in multiple countries often requires dealing with contradictory laws.
But yeah, in this case it also seems unfeasible. As the article says:
US legal legislation of Internet sites
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)