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Reddit Child Sex Images Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A group of people who had sexual material of themselves uploaded to Reddit without their consent are suing the online message board.
- Why: The plaintiffs allege Reddit is slow to take down child sex images from the platform, allowing it to profit off the images. A judge dismissed the case but the plaintiffs are appealing.
- Where: The notice of appeal was filed in California federal court.
A group of people who say Reddit profits from child sexual images and was slow to take down nonconsensual sexual content of them from its platform are taking their fight to the court of appeal.
On Nov. 29, plaintiffs known only as Jane and John Does filed a notice of appeal in the Ninth Circuit, saying they intended to fight the dismissal of the case against Reddit.
The plaintiffs first filed the class action lawsuit in April, alleging Reddit violates the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and California law in the way it handles child content images posted to its site.
The act makes it illegal for any entity to knowingly financially benefit from sex trafficking, including when a minor is made to engage in a commercial sex act.
However, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna dismissed the suit in October, saying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally protects websites from being sued over content posted by their users or third parties. There was no further information about the grounds for appeal in the Nov. 29 court filing.
Plaintiffs Claim Reddit Does Not Do Enough to Prevent Child Sex Images on Its Platform
In the original class action lawsuit, plaintiffs allege that Reddit, the online message board with more than 52 million daily users, fails to stop child sex images from appearing on its platform and even profits from it.
One plaintiff says that when she was 16 years old, her then-boyfriend filmed them having sex without her knowledge. After they broke up, she says he posted the images and video clips to Reddit on various message boards.
After discovering the existence of the video and images online, Doe started reporting it to Reddit, pointing out both that it contained sexual content involving a minor and that she did not consent to its posting.
However, Reddit was allegedly slow to act and when it did take it down, Doe’s ex-boyfriend would simply upload it again to the site. Doe says Reddit never blocked his IP address despite having the ability to do so.
Doe also alleges Reddit was faster to act when she reported a copyright issue rather than a sexually explicit image of a child.
“Reddit’s refusal to act has meant that for the past several years Jane Doe has been forced to log on to Reddit and spend hours looking through some of its darkest and most disturbing subreddits so that she can locate the posts of her underage self and then fight with Reddit to have them removed,” the class action states.
Do you think Reddit should be held accountable for what is posted to its platform? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Krysta Kauble Pachman, Davida Brook and Halley Josephs of Susman Godfrey LLP.
The Reddit Child Sex Images Class Action Lawsuit is Doe v. Reddit Inc., Case No. 8:21-cv-00768, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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