Class of alleged revenge porn victims won’t pursue Reddit lawsuit

Lawyers representing a class of alleged victims of revenge porn and their parents told a federal judge Wednesday that they would not pursue a lawsuit against Reddit Inc.

Earlier this month, U.S. Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California dismissed the complaint, saying he believed Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which shields online platforms from liability for posts made by third parties, likely doomed the lawsuit. But the judge gave the plaintiffs 30 days to amend their claims.

Krysta K. Pachman, a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP who represents the class, said in a motion that she would not refile the lawsuit. Jane Doe et al. v. Reddit Inc., 8:21-cv-768 (C.D. Cal., filed April 22, 2021).

The women claimed that Reddit knows illegal pornography is posted on its platform but has not done enough to verify that the women gave consent to appear in the videos and were of legal age.

Reddit contended that its moderators are subject to oversight and that it employs an internal security team that created automated software that flags content that violates its policies.

A similar case against the pornography company MindGeek USA is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney in Santa Ana. Carney has said the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged MindGeek participated in and benefited from a trafficking scheme by allowing exploitative material on its sites.

Last month, Carney refused to dismiss the case, ruling that content creators can't use Section 230 to escape liability for the unlawfulness of the content posted on their platforms.

MindGeek's lawyers have asked Carney to reconsider his decision, citing an earlier tentative order from Selna in the Reddit case.