GOVERNING THE INTERNET: SECTION 230 OF THE COMMUNICATION DECENCY ACT AND THE CHALLENGES TO HUMAN RIGHTS. CASE STUDY OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE ONLINE.

Starting from Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act (CDA), a federal law of the United States that regulates the immunity of online platforms for content posted by third parties on their sites, this work aims to analyze the challenge that the Internet poses to Human Rights, in particular referring to sexual violence. Using a documentary secondary research method, based on the consultation of information already existing on this topic, and based on academic literature and specific documents, this work tries to address the question of whether it is possible an International Law of the Internet that truly takes into account Human Rights. Even if the existing international law already offers basic useful instruments for governing cyberspace, this work recognizes the exceptionalisms that are proper of the online world, and the challenges that this poses to some International Law’s concepts, and it believes that, involving many actors different from States in the international cooperation process is essential also to solve the challenge that normative gaps at the national and international level may pose to Human Rights. Despite the research done until now, this work suggests that there are still a lot of studies that need to be conducted on this topic, both in order to achieve more comprehensive data and to develop a more sensitive and attentive terminology when referring to such delicate issues as sexual violence.