An action for defamation based upon comments on a Web site allegedly operated by the defendants was properly dismissed pursuant to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, where the plaintiff failed to allege that the defendants were the authors of any of the defamatory statements. The court noted that the plaintiff's complaint alleged only that the defendants “choose and administer content” that appeared on the Web site, and that they engaged in a calculated effort to encourage, keep and promote “bad” content on the site. The court found that these allegations were insufficient to establish a claim that the defendants were “information content providers” with respect to the allegedly defamatory posts.
Shiamili v. Ardor Realty Corp., 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9210 (Sup. Ct. App. Div. 1st Dept. Dec. 17, 2009) Download PDF
