Ninth Circuit Restricts Immunity For Filtering Objectionable Content

Companies that make anti-virus and similar software that helps internet uses guard against dangerous online content must now think twice about whether they can be sued for their decisions about what content to filter. This is the result of a significant ruling last month by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in which the court held that a provider of such software cannot filter content produced by a competitor solely to restrict access to that competitor's software. The decision may lead companies to design their software to filter less content. As a result, internet users who rely on anti-virus and similar filtering software may find themselves at a greater risk that their software will fail to protect them from dangerous online content.