{"podcast":{"title":"The Libertarian","slug":"the-libertarian-172554","podcast_index_feed_id":172554,"rss_url":"https://HooverInstitution.podbean.com/feed.xml","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/on-liberty--6680461","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/36cb2b2be993f299d31f625853e36477.jpg","author":"The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin","episode_count":24,"summary":"The inimitable Richard Epstein offers his unique perspective on national developments in public policy and the law. The Libertarian is a podcast of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-30T04:19:15.220835+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-libertarian-172554"},"episode":{"title":"Can Social Media Platforms Be Held Liable for User Speech?","slug":"can-social-media-platforms-be-held-liable-for-user-speech","published_at":"2026-01-31T15:10:05+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-libertarian-172554/can-social-media-platforms-be-held-liable-for-user-speech","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-libertarian-172554","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/can-social-media-platforms-be-held-liable-for-user-speech--69708750","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69708750/libertarian_podcast_1_30_26.mp3","summary":"Can social media companies be held legally responsible for the harms caused by their users? Richard Epstein examines the surge of lawsuits targeting social media platforms, particularly claims tied to speech, adolescent harm, and platform design. Epstein explains why traditional tort law places responsibility on the individual wrongdoer rather than intermediaries, how Section 230 is meant to shield platforms from derivative liability, and why efforts to carve out “bad faith” or promotion-based exceptions risk collapsing those protections altogether. He also explores the high costs and perverse incentives of jury-driven liability, the limits of causation in complex social harms, and a deeper concern often overlooked: government pressure on platforms that threatens free speech more than platform misconduct itself.","meta_description":"Can social media companies be held legally responsible for the harms caused by their users? Richard Epstein examines the surge of lawsuits targeting socia…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1488,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-libertarian-172554/episodes/can-social-media-platforms-be-held-liable-for-user-speech/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-libertarian-172554/can-social-media-platforms-be-held-liable-for-user-speech.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}