It’s great when your readers and audience are engaged with your content and commenting in your forums and blogs. But what do you do if one of them posts something libelous?According to attorneys Chad Bowmen and Tom Curley of Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Shultz, LLP (who led a terrifically informative panel today at SIPA’s annual conference in DC), online content sites are not legally responsible for comments posted by their audience and users. The main reason is the Communications Decency Act, which Congress passed in the 1990s, absolving websites of comments posted by third parties (third parties are your readers, not your freelancers or reporters).That’s true even if you moderate and edit comments. So, websites that moderate discussion sections by editing or deleting offensive, libelous remarks, cannot be held accountable for a libelous statement that gets through their filter.There are two exceptions to this rule: One, is if you add libelous remarks to a comment. The second is if you promise your readers some type of experience (like a “family-friendly” website or discussion forum) and then fail to delete material that violates those terms of service. But if you make no promise as to the content and tone of your comments section, you can’t be held accountable for the comments posted. (Plaintiffs can go after third-parties, and subpoena you to release their names — your decision to do so will be based on your own terms of use, privacy policy, and legal counsel.)This is all good news for paid content sites, who were sweating recent rumors that moderating comments made them responsible for all comments. Thankfully, we can now breathe a collective sigh of relief.