Good Samaritan Clause (Section 230(c)(2))

The Good Samaritan clause is the part of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, found at subsection (c)(2) and titled "Protection for 'Good Samaritan' blocking and screening of offensive material," that shields online services and their users from civil liability for actions taken in good faith to restrict access to content they consider obscene, lewd, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable, whether or not that content is constitutionally protected. It also protects providing the technical means, such as filtering tools, to restrict such material.

This provision is analytically distinct from the better-known subsection (c)(1), which prevents a provider from being treated as the publisher or speaker of content posted by its users. Where (c)(1) protects a platform for what it leaves up, the Good Samaritan clause protects a platform's affirmative decisions to moderate and remove. For Reddit, it is the legal basis on which the company and its volunteer moderators can take down content and ban users without becoming liable for those choices. Courts generally read the clause broadly, holding that good faith does not require correct or neutral judgement, while declining to protect removals that are merely pretextual or anticompetitive.