Doe v. MySpace, Inc.

In 2005, the plaintiff known pseudonymously as Julie Doe, then age thirteen, lied about her age, claimed to be eighteen years old, and created a profile on MySpace.com. In April 2006, nineteen-year-old Pete Solis contacted Julie through her MySpace page. The two parties communicated offline and formed a relationship. They met in person on May 12, 2006, and Solis sexually assaulted Julie at this meeting. On May 13, 2006, Julie's mother called the police in Austin, Texas to report the sexual assault of her daughter. Julie and her mother sued MySpace and its parent company, News Corp., for negligence, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation. (They also sued Solis for intentional infliction of emotional distress in a separate proceeding.) The plaintiffs first filed a lawsuit in Texas state court (their home state) and also in Bronx County, New York (near the News. Corp headquarters). After various arguments about the proper venue for the case, it was ultimately heard at the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. == District court ruling ==

The district court dismissed the plaintiffs' claim of negligence, as MySpace was shielded from such claims when arising from the behavior of third-party users, by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, as well as Texas common law. Thus, MySpace could not be considered the publisher of the content created by its users, and should not accept the responsibility of that role. The district court also held that the plaintiffs failed to make a compelling claim that MySpace had committed fraud or engaged in negligent misrepresentation. The court held that a party has "no legal duty to protect another from the criminal acts of a third person or control the conduct of another." Thus, the court found that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim for negligence because MySpace had no duty to protect its user Julie Doe from Solis's criminal sexual assault. == Appeals court ruling ==

Julie Doe and her mother appealed the district court ruling on their negligence claim, arguing that Section 230 is both inapplicable regarding criminal matters and does not fully shield MySpace from taking reasonable steps to ensure the safety of its underage users. The court held that Section 230 offers immunity for online services "broadly in all cases arising from the publication of user-generated content." Pete Solis was charged with felony sexual assault of a minor and indicted in criminal court. Julie Doe and her mother attempted to appeal the Fifth Circuit ruling in favor of MySpace to the Supreme Court of the United States, but certiorari was denied. == Impact ==

While previous rulings had clarified that Section 230 absolved service providers from legal liability for the speech-related offenses committed by their third-party users, this ruling was the first to address liability for criminal offenses committed by users outside of the website in question, and found that Section 230 covers that type of transgression as well. However, there was some criticism of the ruling for allowing MySpace to skirt responsibility for the millions of underage users of its platform and the indecency to which they were exposed. ==References==