Yesterday was indeed a bad day for all of us defending free speech online. In India, the Chamber decision was referred to by the Counsel for the Government in their submission to argue that Intermediaries can be held liable for user generated content, when the online free speech case (Shreya Singhal v Union of India) was being heard by the Supreme Court. We had countered it at that time by stating that the decision was under appeal and is before the Grand Chamber. My first reaction on learning about the decision yesterday was to thank God that this judgment was not pronounced earlier.
Of course, we can argue that this does not affect the safe harbour provisions in the case of social media websites, forums etc... But I still feel the judgment is problematic..