Supreme Court maintains legal shield for online speech in win for Google, Twitter
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The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major win for internet and social media companies by maintaining legal protections for content posted by users in two separate lawsuits that claimed that these firms "aided and abetted" terrorists. 
In a case involving Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) video-sharing platform YouTube, judges refused to limit the immunity that internet companies have under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The case pertains to Islamic State's attack in Paris in 2015.
In another case, judges dismissed a lawsuit against Twitter that sought to hold the social media app liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act for an Istanbul nightclub shooting in 2017. 
Both cases were filed by families of people killed by Islamist terrorists overseas, who are trying to hold internet firms liable for having militant groups on their platforms. 
In the Twitter case, the top court raised doubts if social media firms can be held liable for "agnostic" algorithms that push content to users. "To impose aiding-and-abetting liability for passive nonfeasance, plaintiffs must make a strong showing of assistance and scienter. Plaintiffs fail to do so."
The rulings put to rest fears that the tech industry could be subject to a wave of similar lawsuits. "Imposing liability on services like Twitter for harmful content that unintentionally falls through the crack would have disincentivized them from hosting any user generated content," said NetChoice attorney Chris Marchese. NetChoice is a tech industry group that includes Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), Meta (META) and Twitter as its members.
"Countless companies, scholars, creators and civil society groups who joined with us in this case will be reassured by this result," Google's (GOOG) (GOOGL) public policy team tweeted.
More on Section 230

Highlights from the Supreme Court cases surrounding online speech
Google Could Be Significantly Impacted By Changes To Section 230
Microsoft, Meta, Google stand united to protect Section 230 at Supreme Court