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Monitor Postings in Europe or Face Liability

So you operate a website or have a blog in Europe. You allow others to post comments and interact with your website or blog postings. There is, after all, freedom of expression in Europe, isn’t there? Well on October 10 (2013), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that if you don’t monitor, censor or moderate postings by others on your website or blog, you may well have legal liability and responsibility – especially if the visitors post offensive comments.

In the case of Delfi AS v. Estonia, the Estonian news website (Delfi) ran a story about a ferry that provoked heated controversy in the nation. Many posts and comments contained threatening and offensive language, and many were anonymous. The ferry operator sued Delfi for failing to prevent these comments from becoming public and for protecting the identity of the individuals who posted such threats and abusive language. The Estonian court agreed with the ferry operator and ordered Delfi to pay damages.

Delfi appealed and the ECHR upheld the decision, noting: "The comments were highly offensive; the portal failed to prevent them from becoming public, profited from their existence, but allowed their authors to remain anonymous; and, the fine imposed by the Estonian courts was not excessive." In case you are wondering, Delfi’s terms of use state that individuals who comment were liable for the content they posted. The court stated that since Delfi allowed many anonymous postings, it was reasonable to hold Delfi responsible.

What should you do? Call us and we’ll advise you. As always, if you want to know more about the information in this post, how to address the legal risks, or any other matters that could benefit from experienced legal counsel and representation, please contact me, Joe Rosenbaum, or any of the Rimon attorneys with whom you regularly work.

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Blogs Entice Women, But Not Away from Chocolate

A study released in April by BlogHer & Compass Partners indicates more than 36 million women actively participate in the blogsophere each week, and that half of the participants felt blogs were a reliable source of information and advice. The study found women were so passionate about blogging that 55 percent would give up alcohol, 42 percent would give up their iPods—but only 20 percent would give up chocolate!

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Employee Blogging May Subject Employers to Liability

The FTC, in a recent advisory opinion, highlighted the possibility that a seller’s failure to disclose the connection with an endorser could result in a violation of the FTC Act. This opinion has legal implications for blogging by employees, even on personal time and even if the company is unaware of the employee’s activities. Employees should be advised to strictly abide by their employer’s blogging policy, and if they blog about a product, they must identify their employment status. What? You don’t have an employee blogging policy? Shame on you. Come get one. Come to Rimon. Need to know more? Read our Labor & Employment e-flash bulletin “According to the FTC, Employee Blogging May Subject Employers to Liability” and contact the authors, Angela M. Washelesky in our Chicago office or Sara A. Begley in our Philadelphia office.