Attorney Paul Sternberg Explains Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and How Businesses Can Fight Back Against Online Defamation

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 18, 2023 / Houston, Texas attorney Paul Sternberg has spent decades helping local clients overcome their legal battles. His specialty is helping those threatened or harmed by online defamation attacks.

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was congress’s first attempt to regulate pornographic material on the internet. Paul Sternberg, attorney at law, explains that this act’s primary purpose was to protect children from viewing “obscene or indecent” material published on the internet. Essentially, the CDA criminalized knowing transmission of obscene messages and material to minors.

However, in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed this section of the CDA unconstitutional in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, saying it infringed upon First Amendment free speech protections. The court ruled that, though the government had an interest in protecting children from harmful materials, the CDA was an “unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to adults.”

Sternberg explains that, as a result, the CDA’s most important feature became known as Section 230, which many like to refer to as the “twenty-six words that created the internet.” Section 230 states that websites like Google and Facebook are immune from lawsuits based on claims related to content published by third parties.

An unintended consequence of Section 230 is that it has created at a space for false and defamatory statements made about individuals or businesses to flourish. A defamatory statement is one that contains an assertion of fact or implies an assertion of fact that is false or disparaging. These types of statements serve to cause harm to the reputation of a business or individual.

Under traditional defamation law, a website might be considered a publisher or republished of defamatory content and would therefore be held liable for the content. However, many websites simply couldn’t exist outside the protection of Section 230 because the legal liability would overwhelm them.

Sternberg notes that certain websites such as Ripoff Report and Consumer Complaints Board have been designed to cater to negative reviews. While these reviews might be helpful for consumers, the problem is that people can post any type of statement they want, even if it’s defamatory.

Because of Section 230, businesses may feel defenseless against online defamatory claims made about them. Though they can submit a complaint to the website and sometimes, they will remove defamatory statements under certain conditions, this usually involves an arbitration process where someone must first prove their case. The website companies, themselves, however, cannot be sued.

Sternberg explains that there is a way around Section 230 though. An individual or business may not be able to sue the website for defamation, but they can file a lawsuit against the author of the defamatory statement posted on the website. Though the author of the defamatory statement may not be clear in some cases, there are processes of identifying them. For example, a subpoena can be issued so that the website must identify the author through their IP address, email, or name provided. If that isn’t a possibility, a forensic linguistic expert can be hired to identify the author based on their writing patterns, punctuation, and style.

If a court order or injunction that requires the website to remove the statements can be obtained, the injured party can then send it to Google and they will remove it from their search index.

The good news is that, despite Section 230, businesses and individuals are not completely defenseless against defamatory statements made about them online.

Paul M. Sternberg owns a private practice law firm in Houston, Texas. He concentrates his practice in the areas of internet defamation law as well as business law. Mr. Sternberg is a graduate from the A.B.Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in 1987, and a 1996 graduate from South Texas College of Law in Houston. Mr. Sternberg, a seasoned entrepreneur, is the author of THE GUIDE TO INTERNET DEFAMATION AND WEBSITE REMOVAL and THE GUIDE TO INVESTING IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE. He has 10 years of experience on representing clients who have been the victims of defamatory cyber-attacks. Mr. Sternberg has developed a reliable blueprint in securing positive solutions in most cases. He has shared his professional knowledge with FOX NEWS and many other media outlets to discuss internet defamation. He is a frequent speaker to attorneys and community groups. He may be reached at www.TheDefamationAttorney.com or his office at 713-789-8120.

THIS ARTICLE SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS LEGAL ADVICE

Attorney Paul Sternberg, of Houston, Texas, states and declares that the above text is not offered as legal advice, but is provided as general information. The information contained within may not be suitable for all individuals or situations. No attorney-client relationship is created or implied by the provision of this information, nor does the aforementioned make any warranties, whether expressed or implied, of any kind. To discuss a particular situation in more detail, please contact attorney Paul Sternberg for a consultation by calling 713-392-4322.

SOURCE: Sternberg Law Firm