Salesforce Trafficking Claim Continues

Section 230 of the Commuications Decency Act says that no interactive computer service “shall be treated as the publisher or speaker” of third-party content. That law was of no help to a claim against Salesforce about alleged human trafficking, as the Fifth Circuit explained in A.B. v. Salesforce, Inc.:

Plaintiffs allege that Salesforce knowingly assisted, supported, and facilitated sex trafficking by selling its tools and operational support to Backpage even though it knew (or should have known) that Backpage was under investigation for facilitating sex trafficking. In essence, Plaintiffs allege that Salesforce breached a statutory duty to not knowingly benefit from participation in a sex-trafficking venture.

To state the obvious: this duty does not derive from Salesforce’s status or conduct as a publisher or speaker and would not require Salesforce to exercise publication or editorial functions to avoid liability. Rather, the duty simply requires that Salesforce not sell its tools and operational support to a company it knew (or should have known) was engaged in sex trafficking. This is not an action “quintessentially related to a publisher’s role.” Accordingly, section 230 does not immunize Salesforce from Plaintiffs’ claims.

No. 23-20604 (Dec. 19, 2024) (citations and footnotes omitted).