Courts around the country are grappling with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 generally shields online platforms from liability for content posted by third-party users, but courts are now deciding if it can also protect online platforms from product liability claims. Plaintiffs have recently attempted to circumvent Section 230’s robust immunity by bringing claims against online platforms based on theories of product liability, contending that Section 230 cannot protect against such claims.
Described by one scholar as the “twenty-six words that created the internet,” Section 230 provides: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” In other words, Section 230 protects online platforms from civil liability for third-party content posted by a platform’s users.
