Online platforms not liable for sex ad content, but should know advertisers: EU court

Online platforms shouldn't be held liable for the content of advertisements they publish, but they must be able to verify the identity of advertisers, according to a non-binding opinion of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday related to an ad on a Russmedia platform purporting to sell sex services.

The opinion by Advocate General Maciej Szpunar held that under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the operator of the marketplace must verify the identity of user advertisers.

The case was referred after the Romanian Court of Appeal asked the EU’s highest court for clarification regarding the responsibilities of the operator of an online marketplace in a case involving an advertisement published on Publi24.ro, a website of online marketplace Russmedia, which is headquartered in Austria.

The ad stated that a woman was offering sexual services and contained photos and a telephone number taken from the victim’s accounts on social networking sites, used without her consent. 

Russmedia quickly deleted the advertisement, but it was reproduced on other websites, and the victim brought an action against Russmedia.

Szpunar states that under the EU’s rules on electronic commerce, the operator of an online marketplace, in this case Russmedia, can be “considered eligible for an exemption from liability in respect of the content of advertisements published on its marketplace provided that its role remains neutral and purely technical.”

Under the GDPR, the operator of an online marketplace acts as a processor of the personal data contained in advertisements. It is not necessary to check the content of those advertisements systematically before publication, the opinion says. However, the marketplace must adopt organisational and technical measures to protect those data. 

The Advocate General says that as regards the personal data of user advertisers registered on that online marketplace, the operator of that marketplace acts as a controller and, in that context, must verify the identity of the user advertisers.

The Advocate General’s Opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice. A judgment will be given at a later date.