Our latest Global Trends benchmark addresses the approaches to the regulation of social media and video-sharing platforms, and the liability of platforms for content shared by their end users.

The research covers 12 jurisdictions from around the globe: Australia, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, and the US.

The benchmark is divided in three parts. For each jurisdiction it:
 

• provides an overview of the regulatory framework applicable to social media and video-sharing platforms. The analysis focuses on market entry conditions and licensing requirements, taxation, responsible government authorities, and relations with other media;
   
• presents the safe harbour regime, and the main conditions required for it to apply; and
   
• describes legal frameworks and enforcement regimes used to control the posting and sharing of illegal or harmful content by users of social media and video-sharing platforms.

In many of the jurisdictions analysed in this benchmark, social media and video-sharing platforms are currently subject to a light-touch regulatory regime. However, with the growing availability and use of social media, online content moderation has become an urgent and constant pursuit for platforms and governments around the world. 

Each jurisdiction in this benchmark defines what is illegal or harmful, and what platforms should do to counter the spread of such content. Approaches to tackling such content vary, including on the degree of cooperation required by governments from social media platforms.

For more information and to access the benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our Global Trends service.