CraigsList Not Liable for Shooting That Used a Gun Sold Via a Craigslist Ad:
That's the conclusion of Monday's Gibson v. Craigslist, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.), applying the service provider immunity of 47 U.S.C. § 230: Craigslist isn't liable for the ad, even if the ad itself is tortious:
Plaintiff seeks to hold [Craigslist] liable for its alleged failure to block, screen, or otherwise prevent the dissemination of a third party's content, i.e., the gun advertisement in question, alleging, among other things, that Defendant "failed to monitor, regulate, properly maintain and police the merchandise being bought and sold on its ... website" and "is either unable or unwilling to allocate the necessary resources to monitor, police, maintain and properly supervise the good and services sold on its ... website." It is clear that Plaintiff's claims are directed toward Craigslist as a "publisher" of third party content and "Section 230 specifically proscribes liability in such circumstances."
I don't think that Craigslist should be liable even under normal state tort law: I don't think it's negligent for Craigslist not to police its ads, given the high costs of reading each ad and then trying to figure out whether it offers an illegal transaction or is likely to lead to injury. What's more, while I couldn't find a quote of the ad itself -- if any of you can point me to it, I'd love to see it -- the plaintiff's own motion (p. 7) says that "the content of the ad placed upon defendant's website was not, in itself, objectionable," and that it didn't say things like "'Illegal handguns for sale' or 'Shoot your neighbor.'" The plaintiff's argument therefore seems to be not just that Craigslist should look at every ad (or perhaps at all ads that contain certain keywords), but that it should further investigate the circumstances of the ad to see whether the proposed transaction is illegal (or poses unreasonable dangers) even when the illegality or unreasonable danger is not obvious from the ad's face...
volokh.com
J. Aldridge:
Wouldn't that be like holding GM responsible for bank robbery because they sold the robber the GM truck they used?
6.17.2009 12:54pm
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J. Aldridge:
^^^ I meant, "GM dealer."
6.17.2009 12:54pm
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road2serfdom:
I think it would be more like holding the local newspaper responsible for the bank robbery because the GM Dealer who sold the truck to the robber advertises in the newspaper.
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