Website Operator Not Liable for UGC; Also, Sun Rises in the East

Gray Reed
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Last month, the Sixth Circuit ruled that website operators are not liable for content provided by others (User Generated Content or UGC) because of Section 230 immunity under the Communications Decency Act in the Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment decision.

Based on the history of the CDA, that should be no surprise. However, internet lawyers were watching this case closely because a federal judge let a defamation case go to trial and this could have created a hole in the CDA defense.  Alas, the court of appeals ruled the way most experts expected and the world can return to normal.

We posted about the trial court’s decision before.  Last summer, a jury found TheDirty.com “encouraged the development of what is offensive” and was therefore liable for the defamatory posts about former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones. The jury awarded Jones $38,000 in actual damages and $300,000 in punitive damages.

As a refresher, Section 230 of the CDA provides: ”[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Because the websites are not the publisher or speaker, the sites can’t be liable for defamation. Most courts immediately dismiss website operators from defamation suits when the claim is based on UGC.

Jones sued Dirty World Entertainment Recordings which owns TheDirty.com. The site, as expected, immediately filed a motion to dismiss the complaint because the claims were based primarily on the UGC. The trial judge denied the motion arguing the defendant purposefully seeks out and encourages defamatory content. The court wrote “the very name of the site, the manner in which it is managed, and the personal comments of defendant Richie” shows that the site “specifically encouraged development of what is offensive about the content.”

The court of appeals said the trial court erred when it held The Dirty was the “creator” or “developer” of the offensive content and when the trial court allowed a “encouragement test” that would cause a website to lose the CDA immunity.

The Sixth Circuit instead implemented the more accepted material contribution test requiring evidence the website operator was “responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development” of the defamatory content.  Based on this test, the appellate court found the website did not “author” the statements, pay for the content and did not require defamatory content to use the site.  The court also confirmed there was no liability for selecting the content or refusing to edit the content.

What does it mean?

The CDA has been a very effective tool for website operators.  Imagine if Facebook or YouTube could be sued for defamation.  Those sites would not exist.  With the good, comes the like of The Dirty.  There is an old saying that “bad facts make bad law.”  That almost happened in this case. TheDirty.com asks people to “submit dirt.” The submission form has entries for the “dirt,” and provides a link to upload photographs.  More reputable websites, don’t have this feature.  But, if The Dirty is protected, then you should have no worries that your more mainstream site will also be protected.  If there is going to be any changes to allow for liability for those who “encourage” defamation, the change will have to come from the state house and not the court house.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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