No First Amendment Rights in Virtual World

There are no First Amendment rights in the virtual world, at least not in Sony’s Playstation 3 Network.

Plaintiff was barred from the Playstation virtual world for violations of the user agreement for the Network, including posts on its public forums. He sued Sony claiming that his First Amendment free speech rights were violated by the ban. He also raised two contract issues.

The plaintiff claimed that the Network’s online gaming forums carry out a public function within the meaning of the First Amendment. The court dismissed this argument, agreeing with Sony that because the Network “is not part of the government, does not behave similarly to a municipality, and does not have either a functional or structural nexus to the government,” the First Amendment does not apply.

“The First Amendment guarantee of free speech is only a guarantee against abridgment by state or federal governments, and not private actors,” the court wrote.

The Court also found that the Network was not in effect a “company town where the private corporation behaves similarly to a municipality by performing as if it were the government” thereby giving rise to First Amendment rights.

“Sony’s Network is not similar to a company town. The Network does not serve a substantial portion of a municipality’s functions, but rather serves solely as a forum for people to interact subject to specific contractual terms. Every regulation Sony applies in the Network is confined in scope only to those entertainment services that Sony provides. Although the Network does include ‘virtual spaces’ such as virtual ‘homes’ and a virtual ‘mall’ that are used by a substantial number of users, these ‘spaces’ serve solely to enrich the entertainment services on Sony’s private network,” the opinion states.

None of these functions, the court concluded, show that Sony is performing the “full spectrum of municipal powers and [standing] in the shoes of the State.”

The court declined to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over the contract claims.

Erik Estavillo v. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., N.D. Calif., San Jose Division No. C09-03007. Filed September 22, 2009.