Yolo App Can’t Shed Misrepresentation Claims Through Section 230

Children who were harassed and bullied on Yolo Technologies Inc.'s messaging app, and the estate of one who died by suicide, got their misrepresentation claims revived after a federal appeals court on Thursday said a legal shield for internet publishers didn’t immunize the company.

Yolo Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act prohibits holding companies liable for content moderation, but “it does not immunize them from breaking their promises,” the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The district court “oversimplified the proper analysis” for Section 230 immunity because third-party content was involved, Judge Eugene E. Siler, sitting ...