Upstream Liability: The Civil and Criminal Liabilities of the Manosphere

The Manosphere is a loose confederacy of male-centric online groups, consisting of activists, seduction communities, and cliques of extremists with verifiable links to mass-casualty attacks. Members of these communities are known to incite real-world harm, a phenomenon this thesis terms ‘downstream harm.’ The thesis responds to an urgent need for research into how this phenomenon should be combatted, both within the Manosphere and beyond. To do this it identifies whether existing legal tools would be effective in holding online actors liable, individually or collectively, for real-world harm. It employs a vignette methodology; exploring the criminal and civil liabilities of the Manosphere through plausible narratives designed to test existing legal frameworks. The thesis develops and analyses two narratives featuring orthodox Manosphere communities. However the conclusions are widely transferable.

By analysing these vignettes the thesis constructs defensible legal arguments on how existing frameworks could be used to hold online actors liable for downstream harm. It argues accessory liability, in crime and tort, is a means through which those who contribute to mass casualty attacks can be held to account. The thesis proposes a duty of care for online influencers to identify the circumstances in which they may be liable in negligence. It further suggests that the law of unincorporated associations could be used to establish wide-ranging collective liability for members of online communities. Indeed this could be used in conjunction with public nuisance to regulate the harms of the Manosphere.