Do Interactive Websites Have a Legal Duty to Remove Malicious Content?
At times, people post damaging false or private information about others on websites, and in Internet chat rooms. What happens if someone finds himself or herself to be the target of such postings – yet the website is slow to de-post, despite promises that it will do so? A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit offers some answers. The Facts of the Case The facts begin when plaintiff Cecilia Barnes learned that her ex-boyfriend – pretending to be her – had posted nude photos of her on Yahoo, along with her email address, work address and phone number, and an invitation to men to contact her for sexual purposes. The ex-boyfriend had also gone into Yahoo’s member chat rooms to direct men to her profile. Soon, as the Ninth Circuit summarized it, “men whom Barnes did not know were peppering her office with emails, phone calls, and personal visits, all in the expectation of sex.” Yahoo’s policy provides for the removal of fake profiles if the person making the re
