Yelp Asks Virginia Supreme Court To Reverse Order Unmasking Anonymous Users

The Virginia Court of Appeals — in an important First Amendment case deciding an issue that it noted had never arisen in Virginia appellate courts, the Fourth Circuit, or the US Supreme Court — recently required Yelp to unmask some of its anonymous users who allegedly posted defamatory online reviews. Earlier this month, Yelp asked the Supreme Court of Virginia to hear that case on appeal and offer greater protections to anonymous online speakers.

In Yelp, Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc., 62 Va. App. 678 (2014), anonymous Yelp users posted seven reviews complaining that Hadeed Carpet Cleaning had unfairly overcharged them. Hadeed sued these anonymous Yelp users, alleging that they were not truly its customers and that they had defamed it by posting bogus reviews. Hadeed issued a subpoena to Yelp that requested documents that would enable Hadeed to unmask the identities of the anonymous Yelp users. Interpreting a Virginia statute that permits — in some circumstances — a person to unmask anonymous internet users, the Circuit Court for the City of Alexandria, Virginia ordered Yelp to produce those documents.

On appeal, Yelp argued that the First Amendment and precedent outside of Virginia required Hadeed to make a sufficient showing of facts on the merits and the law before Yelp could be compelled to unmask its anonymous users. The appellate court disagreed. It recognized that the First Amendment protects a person's right to speak including on the internet anonymously. But it also stressed that the First Amendment protects only lawful speech, not defamatory speech. Applying Virginia's statute, the appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision ordering Yelp to produce information unmasking the Yelp users. Specifically, the court ruled that Hadeed had submitted sufficient evidence to show that the Yelp reviews were or may have been defamatory...