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Question: If Bernie Madoff had advertised his pyramid scheme in, say, the New York Times, can the paper be held responsible for subsequent losses suffered by th

Question: If Bernie Madoff had advertised his pyramid scheme in, say, the New York Times, can the paper be held responsible for subsequent losses suffered by those who took up the offer made in the advert? Is this case legally similar, or do the specific crimes of human trafficking make it different? You know, sort of like how contracts are ordinarily enforceable, but if I agree to marry off my 12-year-old daughter to you, that "contract" is not enforceable.

anon12345690 10y ago
The basic rule is contracts cannot override the law.
- perlgeek 10y ago
  The real question is: to what degree are providers of platforms (such as ad agencies and newspapers that publish ads) responsible for checking the lawfulness of the content that is published through them? And is it consistent for the different kinds of platform?