ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND DENYING AS MOOT DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO STRIKE AND FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS
Plaintiff Sikhs for Justice Inc. alleges that Defendant Facebook, Inc. violated
I. BACKGROUND
A. Factual Background
Plaintiff is a New York non-profit organization dedicated to human rights advocacy. Compl. at 6. Specifically, Plaintiff focuses on the “plight of religious minorities of India and their treatment by successive Indian Governments” and promotes independence for Sikhs in the Indian state of Punjab. Id. The complaint alleges that Defendant is a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business in Palo Alto, California. Id. Defendant runs a web-based social media service called Facebook. Id.
As part of Plaintiffs human rights advocacy, Plaintiff runs the SFJ Page at www. Facebook.com/sikhsforjusticepage. Id. at I. To run the SFJ Page, Plaintiff allegedly “had a contract” with Defendant “for the use of Defendant’s internet-based and physically-office-centered social networking site.” Id. at 13. Through the SFJ Page, Plaintiff has organized a number of political and human rights advocacy campaigns, including promoting the right to self-determination for the Sikh people in Punjab and opposing the forced conversions of religious minorities to Hinduism that have allegedly taken place in India since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2014. Id. at 2,11.
On or about May 1, 2015, Defendant blocked access to the SFJ Page in India without prior notice or an explanation to Plaintiff. Id. at 7-8. According to Plaintiff, Defendant acted “on its own or on the behest of the Government of India,” because of discrimination against Plaintiff and Plaintiffs members on the grounds of race, religion, ancestry, and national origin. Id. at 3, 9-12. On May 15, 2015 and May 29, 2015, Plaintiff requested that Defendant restore access to the SFJ Page in India and explain why Defendant had restricted access. Id. at 8. Defendant did not substantively respond to Plaintiffs requests and did not restore access to the SFJ Page in India. Id. As a result of the loss of content in India, Plaintiff allegedly sustained damages.
B. Procedural History
Plaintiff filed the complaint on June 2, 2015. ECF No. 1. The complaint alleges that Defendant violated one federal statute, Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title II”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000a. Id. ¶¶ 1-13. Plaintiff asserts two causes of action under Title II: a “first cause of action” seeking a permanent injunction, and a “second cause of action” seeking damages. Id. However, it appears that these two causes of action are based on the same violation of Title II. See id. Moreover, injunctive relief is a remedy, not an independent cause of action. See Free Kick Master LLC v. Apple Inc., No. 15-CV-03403-PJH,
The complaint also alleges three state law claims: (1) violation of the California Unruh Civil Rights Act (the “Unruh Act”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51-51.3; (2) breach of contract; and (3) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Compl. ¶¶ 14-26. The complaint seeks a permanent injunction requiring Defendant to stop blocking access to the SFJ Page in India, as well as compensatory and punitive damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and the production of any communications between Defendant and the government of India related to the SFJ Page. Id. at 14-15.
On July 24, 2015, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss, a special motion to strike and for attorney’s fees pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, and a request for judicial notice. ECF Nos. 13 (“Mot”); 13-2.
II. LEGAL STANDARD
A. Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss
Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a complaint to include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” A complaint that fails to meet this standard may be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Rule 8(a) requires a plaintiff to plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly,
For purposes of ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the Court “accept[s] factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe[s] the pleadings in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co.,
B. Leave to Amend
If the court concludes that the complaint should be dismissed, it must then decide whether to grant leave to amend. Under Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, leave to amend “shall be freely given when justice so requires,” bearing in mind “the underlying purpose of Rule 15... [is] to facilitate decision on the merits, rather than on the pleadings or technicalities.” Lopez v. Smith,
III. DISCUSSION
Defendant contends that all of Plaintiffs claims are barred by the federal Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), 47 U.S.C. § 230, and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Mot. at 5-9. Defendant further contends that Plaintiffs claims fail to state claims for relief under Rule 12(b)(6). Id. at 10-17. Lastly, Defendant moves to strike Plaintiffs state law claims and for attorney’s fees and costs under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. Id. at 17-20. Because Plaintiff brings the instant case under the Court’s federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the Court begins by examining whether Plaintiff can state a federal claim for relief. The Court then turns to Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs state law claims. Finally, the Court addresses Defendant’s anti-SLAPP motion to strike and for attorney’s fees and costs.
A. Plaintiffs Title II Claim
In the instant case, Plaintiff asserts one federal claim: discrimination under Title II. Defendant moves to dismiss this claim on the grounds that (1) the CDA bars Plaintiffs claim; (2) the First Amendment bars Plaintiffs claim; (3) Defendant does not offer a “public accommodation” as required by Title II; and (4) Title II does not apply extraterritorially, to discrimination occurring in India. Mot. at 5-12. As the Court finds below that Plaintiffs Title II claim is barred by the CDA, the Court need not address Defendant’s remaining arguments.
Defendant invokes § 230 of the CDA, which “immunizes providers of interactive computer services against liability arising from content created by third parties.” Perkins v. Linkedin Corp.,
Defendant contends that this case satisfies the three requirements for CDA immunity because, according to Defendant, (1) Defendant is an “interactive computer service;” (2) Plaintiff is solely responsible for the content of the SFJ Page; and (3) Plaintiffs Title II claim seeks to hold Defendant hable for Defendant’s decision to block the SFJ Page in India, a quintessential publisher activity.
1. Interactive Computer Service
Plaintiff does not dispute that Defendant is an “interactive computer service.” See Opp. at 3. The Court also agrees that Defendant “provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer service” as required by § 230. See 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(2) (defining interactive computer service); see also Fraley v. Facebook, Inc.,
2. Information Provided by Another Information Content Provider
Plaintiff argues that the SFJ Page is not “information provided by another information content provider.” Plaintiff acknowledges that the CDA immunizes a website operator “for the removal of ‘third-party content,’” but argues that there is no “third-party content” in this case because Plaintiff created the SFJ Page. Opp. at 3. Although Plaintiffs theory is not entirely clear, it appears that Plaintiff denies the existence of “third-party content” because there are only .two parties in this litigation, Plaintiff and Defendant. See id.
However, Plaintiff misunderstands the CDA. By its terms, the CDA precludes publisher liability against an interactive computer service for content created by “another information content provider.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1). An “information content provider” is defined as “any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.” Id. § 230(f)(3). “The reference to ‘another information content provider’... distinguishes the circumstance in which the interactive computer service itself meets the definition of ‘information content provider’ with respect to the information in question.” Batzel v. Smith,
In this case, the complaint asserts that the SFJ Page was provided by Plaintiff, not Defendant. Compl. at 1, 7. Additionally, the complaint details the various political campaigns “run and launched by the plaintiff’ on the SFJ Page. Id. at 2-3. By contrast, the complaint nowhere alleges that Defendant provided, created, or developed any portion or content of the SFJ Page. See generally id.; see also Batzel,
3. Treatment as a Publisher
Defendant contends that Plaintiffs Title II claim arises from Defendant’s decision to block access to — or, in other words, to refuse to publish — the SFJ Page in India, which Defendant asserts “is clearly publisher conduct” immunized by the CDA. Mot. at 8. Although Plaintiff does not respond to this argument, the Court will examine Plaintiffs claim to determine whether it is appropriate to apply the CDA’s protection from liability. Cf. Barnes,
To determine whether a plaintiffs theory of liability treats a defendant as a publisher, “what matters is not the name of the cause of action.” Barnes,
“[Publication involves reviewing, editing, and deciding whether to publish or to withdraw from publication third-party content.” Id. at 1102 (citing Roommates,
The Court agrees with Defendant. The Court is guided by Barnes, in which the Ninth Circuit addressed whether Yahoo enjoyed immunity against the plaintiffs claim that Yahoo was negligent in undertaking to remove offensive and unauthorized content posted about the plaintiff by her ex-boyfriend on one of Yahoo’s public profile pages. Barnes,
Similarly, in Riggs v. MySpace, Inc., the Ninth Circuit found the plaintiffs negligence and gross negligence claims were barred by the CDA because the claims arose out of MySpace’s “decisions to delete [the plaintiffs] user profiles on its social networking website yet not delete other profiles [the plaintiff] alleged were created by celebrity imposters.” Riggs v. MySpace, Inc.,
As in Barnes, Riggs, and Levitt, Plaintiff seeks to hold Defendant liable for Defendant’s decision “whether to publish” third-party content. See Barnes,
Plaintiff responds that it merely seeks an explanation for why Defendant blocked the SFJ Page in India. However, Plaintiff cites no authority requiring such relief. Rather, the CDA bars all claims that seek to hold an interactive computer service
The Court concludes that granting leave to amend would be futile because this claim is barred as a matter of law. See Bonin v. Calderon,
B. Plaintiffs State Law Claims
Based on the Title II claim, Plaintiff brings this case under the Court’s federal question jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. See Compl. at 7; see also 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (“The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States”). Also based on the Title II claim, Plaintiff invokes the Court’s supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. See Compl. at 7; 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (“[I]n any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution.”).
However, “[w]here a district court has dismissed all claims over which it has original jurisdiction, it may sua sponte decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over remaining state law claims” under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c). Nardico v. JP Morgan Chase & Co., No. C 12-4891 PJH,
By dismissing Plaintiffs Title II claim, the Court is dismissing the only claim over which the Court exercises original jurisdiction. The balance of factors in
As a result, the Court need not reach the merits of, and thus DENIES as moot, Defendant’s anti-SLAPP motion to strike and for attorney’s fees and costs. See Fotinos v. Sills, No. C 12-3828 MEJ,
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs Title II claim with prejudice and Plaintiffs state law claims without prejudice. The Court DENIES as moot Defendant’s motion to strike and for attorney’s fees and costs. The Clerk shall close the case file.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. The Court DENIES as moot Defendant’s request for judicial notice. ECF No. 13-2. Under the doctrine of incorporation by reference, the Court may consider on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion not only documents attached to the complaint, but also documents whose contents are alleged in the complaint, provided the complaint "necessarily relies" on the documents or contents thereof, the document’s authenticity is uncontested, and the document's relevance is uncontested. Coto Settlement v. Eisenberg,
. Although the CDA does not "declare!] a general immunity from liability deriving from third-party content,” see Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc.,
