As the legal issue of online anonymity continues to evolve, the Washington State Court of Appeals has now chimed in with a ruling confirming that commenters can remain unnamed under protections granted by the First Amendment.
The decision stems from a lawsuit brought by Florida attorney Deborah Thomson, who sought to reveal the identity of a person behind negative reviews posted on Avvo, Yelp, and Google, which she claimed were personal attacks without merit on her professional services. However, the court determined that Thomson had failed to prove the comments were defamatory, and thus the commenter’s identity was protected as a matter of free speech.
The lawsuit was defended and represented by Public Citizen, a non-profit, consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., which has advocated for consumer rights on similar cases in other states. As sites like Airbnb and Amazon.com that feature user-generated commentary continue to grow increasingly popular, the totality of those cases and others across the country are helping create new general standards and protections for consumers who review products and services online.
A developing area of the law, this court ruling on consumer rights helps set the standard for any disputes involving anonymous speech in Washington state. To date, 12 states and the District of Columbia, as well as many federal courts, have adopted similar standards that provide strong First Amendment protections to anonymous online reviewers.
Avvo’s press release on the ruling contains additional information; also look for a follow up on this issue in a future NakedLaw post.
