Matt Drudge published a report on his Web site (www.drudgereport.com) that
White House aide Sidney Blumenthal “has a spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up. . . . There are court records of Blumenthal’s violence against his wife.” The Drudge Report is an electronic publication focusing on Hollywood and Washington gossip. AOL paid Drudge $3,000 a month to make the Drudge Report available to AOL subscribers.
Drudge e-mailed his reports to AOL, which then posted them. Before posting, however, AOL had the right to edit content. Drudge ultimately retracted his allegations against Blumenthal, who sued AOL. He alleged that under the Communications Decency Act of 1996, AOL was a “content provider” because it paid Drudge and edited what he wrote. Do you agree?
Putting liability aside, what moral obligation did AOL have to its members? To Blumenthal? Should AOL be liable for content it bought and provided to its members?