Online Forum Users Defamatory Info- Website Owner Liability ?
Hello,
We own a website where there is a forum for users to ask questions and communicate with each other. We do not have any control on the content users post. Now, some users of the online forum have posted some information of 'Company A' that may or may not be correct claiming certain things. As it is publicly available, the 'Company A' has sent us a notice to remove the content saying that it is defamatory and sent us a letter saying the same. As per our research, we responded with below information.
"Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act". As per the CDA 230, Websites do not have to remove content from their site if they receive notice that the material is defamatory. For more information on this point and others, the Digital Media Law Project has an informative entry on online activities covered by the CDA. (http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/online-activities-covered-section-230) ( Reference text courtesy of Glassdoor.com )
Question is, as the owner of the website do we have any liability ? If the "Company A' goes to a court and sends us notice, are we liable ? How do we deal with it ? We clearly did not post those information and we denied to remove that as per section 230 because we will forego our rights, if we do it.
Can you advise your thoughts on this ?