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Social Networking Website MySpace protected by CDA |
The Communications Decency Act immunizes a social networking site from liability on claims that it was negligent in not protecting underage users from online child predators, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held May 16. Doe v. MySpace, Inc., [5th Cir, 2008].
Social networking website MySpace, Inc. sought immunity under 47 USC §230(c)(1) in face of claims that it was negligent when an underage user, the plaintiff Julie Doe, falsified a MySpace profile, met a sexual predator online, and was assaulted after arranging a face-to-face encounter. The plaintiff argued that MySpace was negligent for not having implemented technological safeguards that would have prevented her registration and the subsequent meeting.
The three-judge panel, in an opinion penned by Judge Edith Brown Clement, was unpersuaded by the plaintiff's distinction.
"Their claims are barred by the CDA, notwithstanding their assertion that they only seek to hold MySpace liable for its failure to implement measures that would have prevented Julie Doe from communicating with [her assailant]," the court said. "Their allegations are merely another way of claiming that MySpace was liable for publishing the communications and they speak to MySpace's role as a publisher of online third-party-generated content." |
