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THE "WEAPONIZATION" OF FACEBOOK
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labor, . . . murder[,] and rape;69 and “Wal-mart for failing to stop suppliers from
committing labor abuses.”70 In the United Kingdom, laws on corporate criminal
liability focus on the “identification principle.”71 This requires a prosecutor to
prove criminal responsibility of the most senior officers who represent the
“directing mind and will” of the entire organization, and whose mental state may
be attributed to, or identified, with the company.72 These laws, dating back to
the 1990s, represent the growing recognition and willingness of countries to
prosecute corporations criminally.
Instead of the domestic forum, scholars suggest international courts act as
the appropriate forum to resolve human rights abuses by corporations.73 Jelena
Aparac, former Legal Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières, lists three
justifications for why international tribunals are the appropriate forum for
adjudicating human rights violations.74 First, international tribunals are better
suited to adjudicate gross violations of human rights because international law
governs the gravest violations to humanity: war crimes, crimes against humanity
and genocide.75 Second, such crimes universally hurt values respected by all
actors in the international community and therefore, the international forum is
the best suited for adjudication.76 Lastly, international justice can eliminate
obstacles present in domestic courts.77
In analyzing the theory of corporate criminal liability, there are two actors
who may be subject to liability: the corporation itself and/or its officers and
directors. Arguably, a more realistic discussion about corporate criminal liability
for social media corporations focuses on holding the individual officers and
directors liable rather than the corporate entity. There is, however, an argument
in favor of holding the corporations themselves liable. In the United States, the
Supreme Court held that corporations have First Amendment rights in Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission.78 Analogizing the corporate entity with
a human individual, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “[c]orporations and other
associations, like individuals, contribute to the ‘discussion, debate, and the
dissemination of information and ideas’ that the First Amendment seeks to
69. Cassel, supra note 68, at 306; cf. Duncan Campbell, Energy Giant Agrees Settlement with Burmese
Villagers, GUARDIAN (Dec. 14, 2004, 7:04 PM), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/15/
burma.duncancampbell.
70. Cassel, supra note 68, at 305–06; see also John Sifton, Walmart’s Human Trafficking Problem, HUM.
RTS. WATCH (Sept. 17, 2012, 5:43 PM), https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/17/walmarts-human-traffickingproblem.
71. Corporate
Prosecutions,
CROWN PROSECUTION SERV.,
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legalguidance/corporate-prosecutions (last visited Mar. 20, 2020).
72. Id.
73. Jelena Aparac, Which International Jurisdiction for Corporate Crimes in Armed Conflicts?, 57 HARV.
INT’L L.J. 40, 40–41 (2016).
74. Id. at 40–41.
75. Id.; see also Heyer, supra note 63, at 16.
76. Id. at 41.
77. Id.
78. 558 U.S. 310 (2010).