A classified advertising website’s process for posting ads to its “escorts” section—which included stripping date and location information from photographs and allowing posters to hide their e-mail addresses—involved traditional editorial functions covered by federal online publisher immunity, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled March 14 (Doe No. 1 v. Backpage.com, LLC, 2016 BL 76935, 1st Cir., 15-1724, 3/14/16).
The plaintiffs’ claims, that Backpage.com tailored its posting requirements to facilitate sex trafficking, addressed the site’s editorial choices about what content could appear and in what form, Judge Bruce M. Selya said.
The decision undermines the ...
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