On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Google, Twitter, and Facebook in lawsuits that sought to hold them accountable for terrorist attacks.
The decision, however, did not address the larger question of the federal law protecting social media companies from legal action over content posted by third parties.
The court unanimously dismissed a suit claiming that the companies had permitted their systems to be exploited in order to aid an assault at a Turkish nightclub that led to the death of 39 people in 2017.
Another case involved an American college student who was killed in an Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, and a lawsuit brought against Google for its role in the attack. Justices unanimously decided to send the case back to a lower court, indicating that the lawsuit had little weight..
The Supreme Court initially took up the Google case to consider whether the immunity given to tech companies from a 1996 law known as Section 230, which protects them from user-generated content, is too expansive.
Ultimately, the court concluded that it was not necessary to answer the question of Google’s responsibility for the Paris attack because there was not enough evidence connecting the company to it.
“We therefore decline to address the application of Section 230 to a complaint that appears to state little, if any, plausible claim for relief,” the court’s opinion read.
The outcome signals a victory for big tech companies, which feared major repercussions if Google lost the case. Still, the Supreme Court is capable of revisiting the issue in the future.