Facebook, Twitter Instagram — Social media has redefined the way many people live.
Yet for Amber Yoder, it comes with a dark side.
The Kansas educator said she’s practically grown up online, but in July, she found herself a victim of the place she often finds great comfort.
“I found out through my work, and they informed me about it,” she said. “People had been asking me so I kinda had an idea that I was on the website.”
The website she’s referring to is TheDirty.com.
It’s a user-contributed website, where creator Nik Richie uploads posts of pictures and comments made by others. Submissions are anonymous. Yoder said the site is laced with gossip about local people.
“It talks about people’s kids. Doing drugs while pregnant, sleeping around, STDs…It just goes to about the furthest and lowest it can go on this site,” she said.
Yoder said comments made about her weren’t true. Though the website has a disclaimer about its potential lack-of accuracy, she wondered if it was legal.
HOW ITS LEGAL
Wichita attorney Lyndon Vix said he’s familiar with websites like this, and no matter how spiteful, it is protected by the Communications Decency Act.
Essentially, the law protects Richie because his website posts content submitted by others. As long as Richie isn’t creating the content on his own, he can’t be held liable for everything on it. Vix said it doesn’t matter if articles have blatant lies, but if creators promote inaccuracies, a cyberbullying victim could have some rights.
“If your website actually encourages people to post defamatory information, if it eggs them on to do that. If that’s what it’s there for, then you might lose the protections of the communications decency act,” he said.
Vix said Yoder’s case was legally stronger than most. Her employer, a local school district, said she should get the content removed from TheDirty.com. She may lose her job.
“She has a better case for damages. It still may be hard for her to establish liability on the part of the website,” Vix said.
He also noted that it does not matter if people pass nude photographs in confidence or if pictures have their children in them.
“You’ve kind of given up the control of that image, and so you have to basically trust the person whom you’ve given it, that they won’t do something like put it online, make it public, pass it off to somebody who will,” he said.
Pictures of underage people posing nude, however, would be considered child pornography. The website could then be held liable.
VICTIM SUCCESSFULLY SUED THE DIRTY
A potentially historic moment was made this summer with a lawsuit involving an ex-Cincinnati Bengals Cheerleader, Vix said. TheDirty.com had posts saying Sarah Jones had slept with the pro football team and that she had sexually transmitted diseases. Jones successfully sued Richie in July for defamation, libel and invasion of privacy. She won $338,000.
Richie’s attorney David Gingras tells KAKE News that they plan to appeal that decision.
Vix said this court case could create more leverage for cyberbullying victims to sue website like TheDirty.com and others like Facebook or Twitter.
WHO ELSE CAN GET SUED
Anyone who submits to websites like The Dirty or people who comment on the pages can be sued for their contributions for a case of defamation. Vix said these cases would be tough to win due to privacy laws.
Gingras said anyone who does have a picture posted on The Dirty can have it removed. The website has a special removal application process. Yoder said she asked to have the content removed this summer, but it still remains on the website.
Regardless, she’s thankful that she still has a job.
“I love my work. I love working with kids and education, and if they see that about me, that would make them not respect me as much as an authority,” she said. “It’s all lies. When people get mad at someone, they go post them on the website, and that’s not fair.”
KAKE News contacted Nik Richie, but he declined to comment on this story.