7th Circuit rules in favor of Craigslist

Here's the decision. It looks like my prediction was pretty much on the mark.

In an opinion by Judge Easterbrook, the 7th Circuit has affirmed Judge St. Eve's grant of Craigslist's motion for judgment on the pleadings. In other words, the Court ruled that Section 230 protects Craigslist from the Fair Housing Act claims contained in plaintiff's complaint.

In emphasizing that Section 230(c)(1) does not grant absolute immunity, though, Judge Easterbrook takes the opportunity to cite some of his dictum in Doe v. GTE. This did not seem necessary, particularly given the fact that today's ruling does not adopt the 'definitional' reading of Section 230(c)(1) that was first presented in Doe.

Instead the Court concedes that "subsection (c)(2) does not deal with the liability of speakers and publishers, the subject of subsection (c)(1). We read each to do exactly what it says." Noting that "'information' is the stock in trade of online service providers," the opinion concludes that "given §230(c)(1) [appellant] cannot sue the messenger just because the message reveals a third party’s plan to engage in unlawful discrimination." In other words, appellant sought to treat Craigslist as a publisher of third party content, and Section 230(c)(1) forbids such treatment.

What I found most interesting was the fact that, in the course of rejecting appellant's argument that Craigslist 'caused' the discriminatory ads (a term that appears in the Fair Housing Act provision at issue in this case), the Court alluded to a scenario where a website may indeed become a 'causer' (not just a publisher) and thus expose itself to liability:

Nothing in the service craigslist offers induces anyone to post any particular listing or express a preference for discrimination; for example, craigslist does not offer a lower price to people who include discriminatory statements in their postings.

While the statement was made in reference to the FHA, this sentence suggests that website inducement combined with certain statutory language could result, in some cases, in website liability. We'll probably here more about this point in the Ninth Circuit's much anticipated en banc Roommate.com decision.