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Choose Your Words Wisely: Affirmative Representation As A Limit On § 230 Immunity, Jeffrey R. Doty

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Since its enactment in 1996, § 230 of the Communications Decency Act has shielded Web site operators from liability arising out of third-party content. The statute preempts any claim that would treat the defendant as a “publisher” or “speaker” of that content, but recent cases suggest that a defendant’s own statements may constitute an independent source of liability beyond the scope of § 230. In Mazur v. eBay, a federal district court held that § 230 does not bar claims of fraudulent misrepresentation when a defendant has described a third party’s auctioning procedures as “safe.” More recently, the Ninth …