A 19-year old woman is suing AOL and its parent company, Time Warner. The woman claims that she was seduced by an AOL chatroom monitor when she was just 15-years old, and that he used the chat room to get closer to her. She then claims that he instigated a more explicit conversation over time by online chat and phone. The woman claims that AOL should have more effectively supervised such online environments, and that they should not have indicated that the rooms were safe for children.
AOL say they fired the man once they became aware of the situation in April 2003 and say all of the chatroom monitors undergo criminal background checks and "rigorous screening and training procedures."