Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
339 F.3d 1119 (3d Cir. 2003)
An anonymous user created a fake, sexually explicit dating profile impersonating actress Christianne Carafano (using her stage name Chase Masterson) on Matchmaker.com (defendant), posting her real home address and phone number; Carafano (plaintiff) sued the site for the defamatory content. The district court rejected Matchmaker.com's Communications Decency Act (CDA) defense as to content directly responsive to the site's own questionnaire (reasoning that content wasn't purely third-party), but still granted the site summary judgment on other grounds, and Carafano appealed.
Whether a computer matchmaking site may be held liable for defamatory content posted in a fictitious dating profile by someone posing as another person.