No. 13-5946
Jones v. Dirty World Entm’t Recordings, et al.
Page 18
even intimate, that Consumeraffairs.com contributed to the allegedly fraudulent nature of the
comments at issue.” Id. at 257 (internal quotation marks omitted).
In Accusearch, Accusearch operated a website that sold the confidential information of
individuals, including their telephone records, which the website paid researchers to obtain.
570 F.3d at 1190. The Federal Trade Commission brought suit against the website operator to
curtail its sale of confidential information and to disgorge its profits from the sale of information
in telephone records. Id. Accusearch claimed immunity under the CDA, arguing that it merely
displayed the allegedly illegal conduct that originated from its third-party researchers. Id. The
panel rejected this argument and held that the website operator developed the confidential
telephone records within the meaning of the CDA. The panel cited Roommates’s material
contribution test and found “[t]hat language applies to Accusearch’s role in this case.” Id. at
1200 (citing Roommates, 570 F.3d at 1168). The Accusearch panel reasoned that “[b]y paying
its researchers to acquire telephone records, knowing that the confidentiality of the records was
protected by law, it contributed mightily to the unlawful conduct of its researchers.” Id. The
panel noted that “the offensive postings were Accusearch’s raison d’etre and it affirmatively
solicited them.” Id. It thus found that “Accusearch’s actions were not ‘neutral’ with respect to
generating offensive content; on the contrary, its actions were intended to generate such
content.” Id. at 1201. Accordingly, the panel held that “Accusearch is not entitled to immunity
under the CDA.” Id.
Other circuits, while not explicitly relying on Roommates’s material contribution test,
have issued decisions consistent with it. See, e.g., Johnson, 614 F.3d at 791 (holding that a
website hosting company was immune to state tort claims grounded on unwelcome content
posted to a client’s website); Chicago Lawyers’ Comm., 519 F.3d at 671 (holding that
craigslist.com was immune to fair housing claims based on discriminatory listings posted by
third parties); Green, 318 F.3d at 471 (holding that AOL was immune to state tort claims
grounded on third-party content); Ben Ezra, 206 F.3d at 984−85 (holding that defendant was
immune to the defamation claim when it made its own editorial decisions with respect to thirdparty information published on its website); Zeran, 129 F.3d at 330−35.
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