Facebook, Twitter poised to beat suit over Covid vaccine misinformation

Meta Platforms Inc. and Twitter Inc. can’t be held liable for misinformation posted by users about Covid-19 vaccines even if the posts violate company policies, a judge said.
 

In a tentative ruling Wednesday, a state judge in San Jose, California, based his ruling on the US Communications Decency Act. Section 230 of the law gives broad immunity to interactive computer services for content posted by third parties.

The proposed class-action lawsuit tried to get around law by claiming that Meta’s Facebook and Twitter breached their contracts with users by failing to enforce company policies for preventing the spread of misinformation.

Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarni said that no matter how the complaint was styled, it was still trying to hold the companies liable for third-party content, which Section 230 doesn’t allow.

The case is Ackers v. Facebook Inc., 21CV387172, California Superior Court, Santa Clara County (San Jose).