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DEFENDANT VIDEO-HOSTING SERVICE, VIMEO, DID NOT BREACH ITS CONTRACT WITH PLAINTIFF BY REMOVING FIVE VIDEOS POSTED BY PLAINTIFF CLAIMING CHILDHOOD VACCINATION LEADS TO AUTISM; THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT AUTHORIZES INTERNET PROVIDERS TO REMOVE “OBJECTIONABLE” MATERIAL (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Singh, determined defendant video-hosting service, Vimeo, did not breach its contract with plaintiff by removing five videos posted by plaintiff which Vimeo concluded made false or misleading claims about vaccine safety. The videos claimed that childhood vaccines lead to autism:

This appeal concerns whether a video-hosting service may be held liable for its decision to remove videos that it determines violate its terms of service. Defendant Vimeo, Inc. prohibits users from posting videos that make false or misleading claims about vaccine safety. It removed five videos, posted by a commercial user, because the videos claimed that childhood vaccination leads to autism. The user sued, claiming that Vimeo had breached the parties’ contract. The motion court held that liability was precluded by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. We agree. Section 230 prevents lawsuits against Internet service providers for their good-faith decisions to remove content that they consider objectionable. If service providers had to justify those decisions in court, or if plaintiffs could circumvent immunity through unsupported accusations of bad faith, section 230 would be a dead letter. This is as true for commercial users as for any other plaintiff. Therefore, we affirm dismissal of the complaint.

… [S]ection 230(c)(2) prohibits holding an interactive computer service provider liable for “any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider . . . considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable” (47 USC § 230[c][2][A]). Word of God Fellowship, Inc. v Vimeo, Inc., 2022 NY Slip Op 01978, First Dept 3-22-22

Practice Point: The Communications Decency Act allows Internet providers to take down posted material the providers deem “objectionable.” Here a video-hosting service, Vimeo, took down five videos posted by plaintiff which claimed childhood vaccination leads to autism. Plaintiff’s breach of contract action was dismissed.

 

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