The case, brought about by Shelly Landry-Belle, reportedly stemmed from Belle’s discovery of pictures of herself on AdultFriendFinder.com. Belle believed her ex-boyfriend, Zach Wilhem, was responsible for the postings, which included requests for sexual relationships with both men and women.
Belle claimed she had received unwanted phone calls as a result of the postings and that extensive posts containing false and sexual material had been posted about her on numerous websites operated by Various.
Although unable to locate Wilhelm for the case, Belle had requested Various be held liable as the publisher of obscene material. According to court documents obtained by XBiz, Belle argued that Various “maintains editorial control and the right to edit or remove any postings made to its sites.”
Attorneys for Various countered that pursuant to the Communications Decency Act, “no 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.”
Judge Mark Hornsby agreed, ruling that all claims against Various be dismissed on the grounds that the company “simply provided the computer services that allegedly were used by Wilhelm to embarrass, harass and defame” Belle.
“This case benefits adult dotcom sites that allow for third-party posting or uploading of content,” Various attorney Ira Rothken told XBiz. “It creates additional CDA precedent that immunizes such sites from liability for defamatory postings by others even if the site programmatically controls the third-party creation process and has some involvement in promoting the alleged defamatory content.”