I rapporti tra gestore e singolo utente

The relationship between user and social network needs to be analyzed not only with regard to the law of contract, but also with respect to the plurality of rules governing the processing of data, protection of persons and consumers in general (not considering the intellectual property, that is not analyzed in this essay). These rules play an important role not only in cases of tort (in which they are applicable regardless of the contractual arrangements), but also in limiting the autonomy of the parties with respect to various essential aspects of the relationship, such as jurisdiction, applicable law, the exemption of liability clauses. Effective protection of the user requires the possibility of referral to the jurisdiction of user’s country, the application of user’s national law, to waive the exemption of liability clauses. Traditional methods of analysis of the contract are inadequate to describe this relationship, which does not let itself be ranked among the exchange contracts or the association agreement and rather deserves to be assimilated to the 'network contracts' (category developed in Germany by G. Teubner). The classification in terms of 'network contracts' achieves a further important result (not usefully reachable in light of the traditional classifications), which consists in considering the responsibility of the operator of social network for tortious injury caused by others or non-users through social networks.