Plaintiffs: Twitter Knowingly Profited Off Child Sex Abuse Material

Twitter knowingly disseminated videos of child sex abuse material (CSAM) and profited from sex-trafficking activity so it can’t claim immunity under Communications Decency Act Section 230, trafficking victims argued Friday in 22-15103 before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit recently sided with Reddit in a similar case about hosting child porn (see 2210260073). Twitter was notified by the victims, John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, about the sharing of the CSAM on the platform, the plaintiffs argued in a reply brief on cross-appeal: Once Twitter was aware of the material, it could have removed it and reported it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, or it could “deliberately join in the exploitation” and continue to profit from hosting the material. “Twitter elected to profit and directly engage in the ongoing trafficking of the minor children,” the plaintiffs argued. No federal appellate court has ever held that Section 230 “provides civil immunity for knowing violations of federal or state laws prohibiting CSAM, and only a handful of district courts have done so,” they said.