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from the what-you-see-depends-on-where-you-are dept.
Silicon Valley is a uniquely American creation, the product of an entrepreneurial spirit and no-holds-barred capitalism that now drives many aspects of modern life.
But the likes of Facebook, Google and Apple are increasingly facing an uncomfortable truth: it is Europe's culture of tougher oversight of companies, not America's laissez-faire attitude, which could soon rule their industry as governments seek to combat fake news and prevent extremists from using the internet to fan the flames of hatred.
While the U.S. has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, European officials have shown they are willing to act. Germany recently passed a law imposing fines of up to 50 million euros ($59 million) on websites that don't remove hate speech within 24 hours. British Prime Minister Theresa May wants companies to take down extremist material within two hours. And across the EU, Google has for years been obliged to remove search results if there is a legitimate complaint about the content's veracity or relevance.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday November 03 2017, @05:39PM
Plenty of legal precedent. A U.S. corporation is only subject to U.S. law unless it creates legal presence in another jurisdiction. There are a very few things you have to worry about. If you have a customer type relationship with a foreigner it is on the customer to obey local law with very rare exception. If you ship a physical product into a country that is illegal you could be liable, there are laws and treaties regulating common carrier shipping that would get you. You are liable if you do not correctly declare the contents for purposes of customs. But you are not responsible for any sales / use taxes. Heck, a U.S. based corp isn't even required to collect sales / use taxes in Interstate commerce. Streaming content across borders doesn't cause a problem for violating the other country's laws, it is the breaking of the regional distribution license here, although there also international copyright treaties to consider in edge cases. If you take a paid subscriber you probably are ok, plenty of U.S. publications with subscriptions to foreign addresses, for example, provide enough precedent to give cover.