Craigslist Not Liable For Discriminatory Housing Ads

Craigslist is not liable for publishing housing rentals and sales advertisements that contain discriminatory statements based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion and family status that would otherwise be prohibited by federal law, a federal district court ruled.

According to the complaint, Craigslist publishes on its website housing advertisements that are composed and posted by third party users and that have included statements such as “African Americans and Arabians tend to clash with me so that won’t work out,” “NO MINORITIES,” “looking for gay latino,” and “Apt. too small for families with small children.”

The plaintiffs sought damages under the federal Fair Housing Act that “prohibits racial discrimination of all kinds in housing.” The Act also makes it unlawful to print or publish or cause to be printed or published any advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, family status or national origin.

Craigslist argued that it was immune under the federal Communications Decency Act’s (CDA) safe harbor provision for internet service providers (ISP). The Act states that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” The court found that Craigslist was not liable because to violate the Fair Housing Act there must be a publication. Because the CDA provides that an ISP is not a publisher, it cannot be liable for violation under the Fair Housing Act.

Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc., Northern District Illinois, Eastern Division, No. 06 C 0657, November 14, 2006.