The Law Standing In Your Way To Getting False Information Removed Online
Negative information and reviews get posted about people and businesses every day. There are tons of posts, reviews, photos and information out on the internet that can defame a business or an individual and cost them their job, livelihood, and more.
Have you ever stopped to wonder how those websites can get away with publishing that information and not deal with any of the repercussions of legal action? Or maybe you have been curious as to how those websites can publish that information and not be required to take it down.
The answer to all those questions lies in a small little provision that few people have ever heard about in the Communications Decency Act.
Essentially, it means that a website is not responsible and cannot be held accountable for information posted by people who use their site.
The Communications Decency Act or CDA was the first attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornography. The CDA was passed in 1996 and was supposed to regulate porn on the internet. There are a variety of additional provisions in the CDA but the one that we are talking about today is Section 230.
Section 230 of the CDA states, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
In non-legalese, that basically means that no website provider or host is responsible for of will be viewed as the original publisher of the information posted by another person. Essentially, it means that a website is not responsible and cannot be held accountable for information posted by people who use their site.
This means that there are a wide range of laws that protect sites that host reviews, videos, and published content. The owners of the site cannot sued or required to redact or remove information.
While this can be a headache for people who are dealing with negative content about them, the idea is to allow the internet the be and remain and free and open space. If websites were constantly being held accountable for the actions and information that their users were posting, then there would likely be no websites open to hosting any information.
For anyone who has ever been defamed on the internet and tried unsuccessfully to get the information removed, Section 230 is what has likely been standing in your way. Thankfully, there are solutions to working within the guidelines of Section 230 of the CDA.
For anyone who has ever been defamed on the internet and tried unsuccessfully to get the information removed, Section 230 is what has likely been standing in your way.
Many websites and platforms offer some kind of review program for people who have been defamed. You can flag the information and send it through a review process. This review process allows the sites to isolate the information making it easier to review and decide what actions to take.
Before you flag the information, make sure that you gather all of the information you will need to prove your case. The more information you have and the more concrete your reasons are for the information being false, the better. All of this will help you make your case and get the information taken down that much sooner.
If you have ever been defamed online and struggled with having false information online taken down, Section 230 of the CDA is likely what has been causing your problems. Thankfully, the more you know about it, the better and you will be able to handle the issues and get them dealt with accordingly.
