Social Media as a Common Carrier

There has been a great deal of conversation regarding Social Media, but none thus far as best I can see as to how it is classified as a business and as such how it would be considered to be treated under the law. We will argue that Social Media has many characteristics of Common Carriage, and specifically Common Carriage over the wireline, in this case we extend wireline to include the Internet in its broadest scope.

Let us first return to the old concept of bailment. Namely the idea that if I give someone one of my possessions, that person takes it from me and transports it to another at perhaps some distant location. The old bailment concept had some issue. Then came common carriage, an idea that extended bailment under Elizabeth I and made it the basis for England's dominance in trade. A common carrier takes your possession, moves it to another and unlike bailment which may have unlimited liability, the common carrier is at best liable for what you paid them for the transport. If you want more in the event of a loss then get insurance, thus Lloyd's of London.

The elements are simple. A person wishes to take something they own, perhaps in the broadest sense, agree to pay the carrier to move it across some distance, and deliver it to another. The sender agrees to pay the carrier in some manner. The sender takes all the risk of loss, the carrier just "transports" at some fee.

Now how does this apply to social media. Let us say I am the sender. I send some item of interest that I want to get to some destination. Thus I may have a Facebook page, which I do not for obvious reasons, but let us assume I do. I want to "send" a  "possession" to Facebook to carry to my "page" and thus to my selected "destinations" who will "read" my page. I "pay" Facebook with the right to use my delivery system to advertise stuff for which they receive revenue from third parties. I have agreed to "give" Facebook my identity and that of my destinations associates in return for "sending" my message. Facebook then monetizes my identity and destination identities to place ads and the like. A slightly different model from the telephone company or post office, but not that far off.

Thus if Social Media can be considered as a common carrier then can they be regulated as such. There is a wealth of common carriage regulation. Simply, a carrier must carry anyone, a carrier must not interfere with what is in the package they carry, a carrier has a very limited liability, and customers have remedies under the law.

Perhaps we need an FCC like entity to regulate these types of common carriers. Just a thought.