Accessibility of Social Media content - who's liable?

02 Sep 2020 | Accessibility

Adam Turner
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This is a question that we, here at Sitemorse, are getting asked more and more.  For a detailed commentary, please refer to our Social Media Content and Accessibility Notes.  However, to get you in the mood, let’s have a quick look at the situation as it stands:

With little case law existing AS YET on the point, the question is this:  at whose door does the burden of responsibility lie?  Is it the company themselves?  Their senior management?  What if they have a content team to which they outsource? 

Or is it the social media company?  Surely, they have put themselves squarely in the frame, thanks to their (very lucrative) position as hosts.

Let’s look at making a building accessible, by installing lifts to that disabled people can enter via the same door as abled bodied people. If you don’t do this, then the disabled person has every right to sue you.

You could argue that the accessibility of your social media content could be regarded (and regulated) in the same way. If the platform, that just so happens to be online, is not enabling disabled users to access it, then should the same rules apply? 

How do we start?  Don’t forget the law regards jurisdiction:  a company uploads content to their social media feed.  The company is registered in the UK.  The content is delivered from India.  It is then seen by a consumer living in Virginia, USA.

Now, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union, and if we apply the same rules as an “illegal” post, the action is worldwide. But in practice, we have to combine UK law, Indian law, USA law – is it Federal or State (Federal plus any State laws…). 

Yikes.  Is it a case of who gets there first?  Is it possible to even have a “Worldwide Law” in terms of online accessibility?  Can one merge all these potentially contravening legal systems?

If these questions are starting to rear their heads in your organisation, have a quick look at our commentary Social Media Content and Accessibility Notes.