Youtube Did Not Have To Suspend Mike Skehan for Libel

Doggbiskit speculated that Youtube suspended Mike Skehan's because Mike had cast too wide a net in his series of videos accusing others of being pedophiles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gUqHMfwJg

He claimed that Youtube/Google might be sued by someone that Mike had libeled and that this would be bad publicity for Youtube.

In fact, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would allow Youtube to get any lawsuit against them for libel dismissed fairly quickly.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000230----000-....

In particular, Section 230 (c) (1) states:

"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. "

In other words Youtube will not be treated as the publisher of Mike Skehan's videos. Mike Skehan, and Mike Skehan alone, is responsible for anything he says in his videos. If Updownmostly or anyone else has a problem with what Mike Skehan says, they can sue Mike, but they have no legal claim against Youtube.

I talk more about Section 230 of the CDA and its importance in helping the internet develop in the following video.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJT-M9RvalQ

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• Skehan
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• 230
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• Decency
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• pedophile
• libel