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Courts continue to struggle with the application of CDA immunity to shield service provider defendants from liability in extreme cases. In this case, the Washington Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, affirmed the lower court’s decision to allow a suit to proceed against classified service Backpage.com surrounding the sexual assault of several minors by adult customers who responded to advertisements placed in the “Escorts” section of the website. (See J.S. v. Village Voice Media Holdings, L.L.C., 2015 WL 5164599 (Wash. Sept. 3, 2015).  This opinion is notable in that courts have usually (although sometimes reluctantly) resolved these struggles by extending broad immunity, even when the facts presented are unsympathetic, or, as the dissent in J.S. noted, “repulsive.”   Indeed, in a case from earlier this year, Backpage was granted CDA immunity in a dispute resting on similar facts. (See Doe No. 1 v. Backpage.com, LLC, No. 14-13870 (D. Mass. May 15, 2015)).  Why was this case decided differently?

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The content in this post was found at http://newmedialaw.proskauer.com/2015/10/01/section-230-of-the-communications-decency-act-more-lessons-to-be-learned/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.