In this ruling, the court found that Leadclick had recruited affiliate marketers who used fake review and news sites to drive traffic to the LeanSpa website. Notably, the court rejected LeadClick's claim of immunity under the Communications Decency Action Section 230, finding such immunity inapplicable, because LeadClick itself had participated in the development of the deceptive content. Specifically, LeadClick knew that the news sites were fake, and activately participated in creating the content thereon.
For more on the case, visit https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/160923leanspaopinion.pdf