California Supreme Court Protects Bloggers From Libelous Comments

Posted on November 21, 2006

The International Herald Tribune reports that a decision by the California Supreme Court gives bloggers, forum owners and publishers immunity from libelous comments posted on their websites by others. It is a good decision because bloggers should not be punished for any annoying trolls that stop by and post vicious comments and/or start flame wars.

The court, in a unanimous decision overturning a San Francisco appeals court ruling, said that those claiming defamation could sue only the original source of the disputed comments, not publishers or distributors, even if the distributor was an individual.

Internet users are protected by the same 1996 Communications Decency Act that grants immunity against defamation claims to publishers in most cases, the court said.

An NBC News article shares what the California supreme court said.

In today's ruling, the California Supreme court said that granting such broad immunity for posting defamatory statements "has some troubling consequences."

Nevertheless, the court said, "Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area" people who contend they were defamed on the Internet can seek recovery only from the original source of the statement, not from those who re-post it."

Instapundit calls the decision a free speech victory for blogs. Talk Left posted a link to the PDF file containing the text of the decision. Tony Hung at the Blog Herald writes, "And to that I say - let the libelous trolling flame wars begin!"

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