Rod Liddle asks a question of the kind one frequently sees raised by media types:
[W]hy is [Lord McAlpine] not suing Twitter itself? It is not Philip Schofield who the peer is suing, but ITV. Surely, likewise, Twitter needs to take some responsibility for its output? If, unlike broadcasters, it has no legal responsibility for what is put out through its witless conduit, then surely there is less of a responsibility on the people who use it, too?
On the face of it this seems a reasonable question. But it doesn’t take long to appreciate that it really isn’t and that, though doubtless well-intentioned, it doesn’t make a heap of sense. That is, it misunderstands both Twitter and the nature of the web.
ITV employs Philip Schofield and is responsible for the programmes it chooses to broadcast. If Lord McAlpine has been defamed on Twitter – something which has not yet been proven, incidentally – he has not been defamed by Twitter itself but, rather, by individuals for whom Twitter has no responsibility.
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