The court in Ben Ezra, Weinstein & Co. v. American Online held AOL immune from liability based upon Section 509 of the Communications Decency Privacy Act.
Section 230 provides that no provider of an interactive computer service will be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. The key to AOL prevailing on its immunity defense was establishing that it never produced or created any of the inaccurate information. Two independent third parties—a stock quote provider and a software provider—jointly provided the information to AOL. During oral argument, AOL conceded that Section 230 would not immunize it with respect to information it developed or created by itself. In addition, AOL acknowledged that, in an appropriate situation, an interactive computer service could also act as an information content provider by participating in the creation or development of information, and thus not quality for Section 230 immunity.
