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Communication Law Keyed to Benjamin, 2nd Ed.
Zeran v. America Online, Inc.
Citation:
129 F.3d 327 (1997)Facts
On April 25, 1995, an unidentified person posted a message on an AOL bulletin board advertising “Naughty Oklahoma T-Shirts” with offensive slogans related to the Oklahoma City bombing, directing interested buyers to call “Ken” at Zeran’s home phone number. As a result, Zeran received numerous angry and threatening calls. He immediately notified AOL, which promised to remove the posting but refused to post a retraction per company policy. Over the next several days, similar postings continued to appear, advertising additional offensive merchandise and again listing Zeran’s phone number. The situation worsened when an Oklahoma City radio station announced the content of the first posting on air, leading to an intensification of threatening calls. Zeran repeatedly contacted AOL about the continuing posts and was told the account would be closed. He also reported the situation to the FBI and local police, who eventually provided surveillance for his safety. Zeran filed suit against AOL, claiming it was negligent in failing to remove the defamatory messages promptly, refusing to post retractions, and not screening for similar future postings.
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