23 states ask news site to drop $19.99 fee to review posts, but Topix defends its practices

Nebraska joins other states in fight over fee

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska and 22 other states are demanding that an online news collecting company reform its practices and drop the $19.99 fee it charges for faster reviews of inappropriate posts on its forums.

Topix CEO Chris Tolles said he thinks the attorneys general of the 23 states mischaracterized his business in their letter, and he doesn’t believe there is anything improper about the fee the company charges. Topix aggregates news stories from thousands of sources and links it to forums generated by users, according to its website.

Tolles said the fee simply speeds up the normal four-day review process but doesn’t guarantee anything will be removed. Topix gets about 28,000 feedback e-mails each month about its websites that enable people to discuss news.

But Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Friday that the website is essentially victimizing people a second time by forcing them to pay to have abusive or obscene posts removed.

“It’s deplorable that a website would deliberately create an environment where this type of abuse, much of it aimed at children, is allowed to remain,” Bruning said.

The states want the website to improve the way it screens posts for abusive material and disclose more about the procedure Topix follows to review reports of abuse.

Tolles said his company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., regularly removes comments if the post detracts from the conversation, makes threats or is libelous. But Topix doesn’t regularly monitor content except for an automatic scanning program that looks for hate speech or heated language.

On its website, Topix said users are solely responsible for what they post. The privately held company is backed by three of the nation’s biggest newspaper firms: Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune.

Tolles said he has been in contact with officials in Kentucky and Connecticut, where the investigation started.

“We’re going to continue to work with the attorney general in Kentucky,” Tolles said. “I’m a little surprised that they’re still characterizing our systems the way they are, so we’re going to call them.”

On the Net:

Nebraska Attorney General: www.ago.ne.gov

Topix.com: www.topix.com