Section 230 Shields Grindr from Sex Trafficking Claims, 9th Cir. Affirms

SAN FRANCISCO — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields a dating application from claims that it allowed sex trafficking because the claims implicated the app’s role as a publisher of third-party content, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed.

In a Feb. 18 opinion, the appellate panel further ruled that the plaintiff could not invoke a statutory exception to § 230 immunity under the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act because he did not plausibly allege that the app was a knowing perpetrator of sex trafficking or knowingly benefitted from the sex trafficking. …