In an ongoing series on the changing legal landscape for defamation, Law.com contributor Kevin Allen explores the issue in a three-part series titled “Digital Defamation,” which addresses current developments in the law of defamation, particularly those involving allegations of defamation in the electronic media. This is the last article in the series.
The Communications Decency Act (CDA) provides Internet service providers and Web site operators with broad immunity from lawsuits based on defamatory or otherwise unlawful content posted by third parties. See 47 U.S.C. �230. Courts have almost uniformly given CDA immunity an expansive scope. (See, e.g., “Digital Defamation, Part II: Federal Law Protects Internet Companies From Blame for Content.”) Consequently, even Web sites and providers that make it their business to solicit and post controversial or offensive content from third parties have received CDA immunity from liability. See, e.g., Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F. Supp. 44 (D.D.C. 1998).
