When did they finally do this? For years it was that Killer muffin post buried in a bunch of steps.
From another thread it seems he made a story about Chelsea Clinton, so prob will be more about the use of a public figure than anything else. Even if as a publisher they are not liable for defamation they have been strict about this type of content for over a decade
For those not on the other thread where we were discussing this, looks like that FAQ page is a fairly recent addition - earliest Wayback Machine record of it is April 28 of this year.
It can't be just "public figure" though, otherwise the "celebrity" half of Celeb/Fanfic wouldn't exist.
I think Lit's rules and procedures seek to place them in the category of 'common carriers' - a distinction made before the age of the internet. The post office and trucking companies, in general, are immune from liability for carrying freight when they did not know of the contents of the packages, whether porn, defamatory publications, drugs, etc. This didn't mean that they could never be liable. If they knew, or ought to have known the contents of the packages, they would be liable. Lorries crossing the English Channel with illegal immigrants on board can be liable if they haven't done reasonable due diligence, like keeping the lorry locked, and checking inside before departure. If this weren't so, you can imagine the opportunities that would open up. This concept of 'common carrier' has been imported into the internet and has legal recognition. The distinction drawn isn't legal, it's net-speak, it's between publishers and platforms, and platforms are said to be immune and publishers, as pre-internet to be liable for the content they host. The true distinction is between a common carrier and a person who knowingly distributes illegal material. Lit's rules, reasonable prepublication moderation, and 'notice and takedown' are intended to bring them within the rules of 'common carrier', whether they are described loosely, or describe themselves, as 'publishers'. They do reasonable due diligence and they remove anything they know is illegal.
I am not a lawyer, but I'd have thought Literotica's pre-publication moderation works against any claim to common carrier status?
In net-speak, Lit attempts to bring itself within the concept of a platform, like Twitter, Facebook etc, which can refuse to host messages or messengers they don't like, but have immunity against actions for hosting illegal content of which they have no knowlege. This immunity was imported by analogy with common carrier immunity, it's not a perfect analogy. Lit must use reasonable diligence not to host matters which they are on notice may be illegal ie: obscene, defamatory or otherwise actionable, and to remove it when given notice that it is illegal, but they have no obligation to host anything. They can, for their own reasons confine politics and religion to their own forums, or exclude them altogether.
It just happened to be the concept that came to the mind of legislators and judges to facilitate but impose reasonable restraints on, a newly emerging communications technology. It's still bedding in, but seems to me a reasonable compromise. Hosting on the internet is to communicate in every jurisdiction in the world. Every country in the world understands commercial law concepts, including the concept of 'common carrier', so there is every reason to believe you can achieve immunity in every jurisdiction in the world. You'll appreciate that hate speech is illegal in many jurisdictions and publishing eg: The Satanic Verses, or Mein Kampf, can be viewed differently in different jurisdictions. A reader in Pakistan may be executed or in Germany sent to prison for reading such material on Lit, and if Laurel takes a holiday in those countries she could share her readers' fate. As you've pointed out, the law of the hosting country is neither here nor there. One needs to be prudent in relation to religious and political matters also. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is of no avail beyond its borders.
Doesn't necessarily need to be scifi. If you can make it about two fictional present-day countries, without being too blatant about the Russia/Ukraine origins, it'd probably fly.
So my father had a buddy that ran a triple-X theater in Denver back in the 80s. This buddy had to ship a film from Denver to Saint Paul, and dad was with him when he took the movie cans to the post off. The title of film, Sex Trek 3: The Search for Spunk, was clearly printed on the label. The postal official asked, "Is this movie porn?" his friend answered, "No, it's Star Trek. How could that be pron?" The postal employee answered, "They misspelled Spock." My dad chuckled and said, "Where in the world was that person's mind when they typed up the shipping label?" Everyone laughed. When they left, his friend said, "I'm gonna kill that bitch. She put the real title on it on purpose."
Its because Clinton is on their side of the political fence. If I had the inclination to write it, and submit it, I have 65/35 that I could post a story of Melania or Ivanka Trump being raped.
