original post by justfactsmam on IHUB
As a dovetail issue to CTIX's success in its dismissal of class action claim etc., a California decision might finally put an end to Seeking Alpha's co-conspirator status in supporting shorts and promoting patently malicious or defamatory articles per the "Hassell" case where Yelp was sued for and held liable for not taking down defamatory materials:
http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/522754/S...+Operators
"The Court of Appeal held that the Section 230 safe harbor did not apply, and that Yelp could be forced to comply with the order. The court reasoned that the order requiring Yelp to remove the reviews did not impose any liability on Yelp; Yelp was not itself sued for defamation and had no damages exposure, so Yelp did not face liability as a speaker or publisher of third-party speech. Rather, citing California law that authorized a court to prevent the repetition of "statements that have been adjudged to be defamatory," the court characterized the injunction as "simply" controlling "the perpetuation of judicially declared defamatory statements." The court acknowledged that Yelp could face liability for failing to comply with the injunction, but that would be liability under the court's contempt power, not liability as a speaker or publisher.
"The Hassell case represents a significant setback for social media companies, bloggers and other website operators who rely on the Section 230 safe harbor to shield themselves from the misconduct of their users. While courts have previously held that a website operator may be liable for "contribut[ing] materially to the alleged illegality of the conduct"—such as StubHub.com allegedly suggesting and encouraging illegally high ticket resale prices—here, in contrast, there is no claim that Yelp contributed to or aided in the creation or publication of the defamatory reviews, besides merely providing the platform on which such reviews were hosted.
Of particular concern for online businesses is that Hassell appears to create an end-run around Section 230 for plaintiffs who seek to have allegedly defamatory or false user-generated content removed from a website—sue the suspected posting party and, if that party fails to appear, obtain a default judgment; with a default judgment in hand, seek a court order requiring the hosting website to remove the objectionable post, as the plaintiff was able to do in the Hassell case."
bingo!
Go CTIX!!!
As a dovetail issue to CTIX's success in its dismissal of class action claim etc., a California decision might finally put an end to Seeking Alpha's co-conspirator status in supporting shorts and promoting patently malicious or defamatory articles per the "Hassell" case where Yelp was sued for and held liable for not taking down defamatory materials:
http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/522754/S...+Operators
"The Court of Appeal held that the Section 230 safe harbor did not apply, and that Yelp could be forced to comply with the order. The court reasoned that the order requiring Yelp to remove the reviews did not impose any liability on Yelp; Yelp was not itself sued for defamation and had no damages exposure, so Yelp did not face liability as a speaker or publisher of third-party speech. Rather, citing California law that authorized a court to prevent the repetition of "statements that have been adjudged to be defamatory," the court characterized the injunction as "simply" controlling "the perpetuation of judicially declared defamatory statements." The court acknowledged that Yelp could face liability for failing to comply with the injunction, but that would be liability under the court's contempt power, not liability as a speaker or publisher.
"The Hassell case represents a significant setback for social media companies, bloggers and other website operators who rely on the Section 230 safe harbor to shield themselves from the misconduct of their users. While courts have previously held that a website operator may be liable for "contribut[ing] materially to the alleged illegality of the conduct"—such as StubHub.com allegedly suggesting and encouraging illegally high ticket resale prices—here, in contrast, there is no claim that Yelp contributed to or aided in the creation or publication of the defamatory reviews, besides merely providing the platform on which such reviews were hosted.
Of particular concern for online businesses is that Hassell appears to create an end-run around Section 230 for plaintiffs who seek to have allegedly defamatory or false user-generated content removed from a website—sue the suspected posting party and, if that party fails to appear, obtain a default judgment; with a default judgment in hand, seek a court order requiring the hosting website to remove the objectionable post, as the plaintiff was able to do in the Hassell case."
bingo!
Go CTIX!!!
3
