A US government lawsuit accusing eBay of selling almost 350,000 polluting and environmentally harmful products — including pesticides and “defeat” devices that let motor vehicles evade emission controls — has been dismissed by a federal judge. On Monday, District Judge Orelia Merchant ruled that eBay isn’t liable for items that users sell on the digital marketplace due to civil protections that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides for online platforms.
Under Section 230, online platforms cannot be held responsible for hosted content unless “it assisted in the development of what made the content unlawful.” The lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice last year alleged that eBay had violated the Clean Air Act (CAA)…