Introduction: The Synthetic Media Explosion # Deepfakes have evolved from a niche concern to a mainstream crisis. In 2025, the technology to create convincing synthetic video, audio, and images is accessible to anyone with a smartphone. The consequences, damaged reputations, defrauded businesses, manipulated elections, and psychological harm, are no longer hypothetical.
The End of Platform Immunity for AI # For three decades, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded online platforms from liability for user-generated content. That shield is crumbling. Courts now distinguish between passively hosting third-party content, still protected, and actively generating, amplifying, or curating content through AI systems, increasingly not protected.
The Youth Mental Health Crisis Meets Product Liability # Social media platforms face a historic legal reckoning. Thousands of lawsuits allege that platforms’ algorithmic design intentionally maximizes engagement at the cost of children’s mental health, driving addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicide. Courts are increasingly willing to treat recommendation algorithms as products subject to liability, rather than neutral conduits protected by Section 230.
AI Chatbots: From Convenience to Liability # Customer-facing AI chatbots have moved from novelty to necessity across industries. Companies deploy these systems for 24/7 customer support, sales assistance, and information delivery. But as chatbots become more sophisticatedand more trusted by consumersthe legal exposure for their failures has grown dramatically.
The New Frontier of Defamation Law # Courts are now testing what attorneys describe as a “new frontier of defamation law” as AI systems increasingly generate false, damaging statements about real people. When ChatGPT falsely accused a radio host of embezzlement, when Bing confused a veteran with a convicted terrorist, when Meta AI claimed a conservative activist participated in the January 6 riot, these weren’t glitches. They represent a fundamental challenge to defamation law built on human publishers and human intent.
The Central Question # Does Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act:“the 26 words that created the internet”, protect AI companies from liability for content their systems generate?