Barnes's former boyfriend set up "profiles" about her on Yahoo!'s website. The profiles contained information about Barnes, appeared to have been posted by her, and included nude pictures of her and information about how to contact her at work. Her ex-boyfriend also impersonated her online to solicit men, causing them to visit and harass her at work. Barnes sued Yahoo!, alleging that Yahoo! assumed a legal duty to act when one of its employees allegedly told Barnes that Yahoo! would "stop" the unauthorized profiles, and that Yahoo! then failed to fulfill that duty. Her claim derived from the Oregon tort principle that where an actor undertakes a duty, and is then negligent in performing that duty, the actor can be liable. The district court rejected this novel argument, and granted Yahoo!'s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, finding that section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. 230, rendered Yahoo! immune from the actions of third parties like Barnes's former boyfriend.
Keywords: websites, defamation