Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - Social networking giant MySpace should receive $230 million in damages from the "Spam King," a Los Angeles federal judge ruled Monday.

The ruling, proclaimed as a landmark by MySpace, follows 730,000 messages users of the online hangout received from a company run by Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines. The messages appeared to come from friends and asked people to visit a site that held a sales pitch.

U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins ruled for the Internet site after Wallace and Rines failed to appear in court Monday.

The federal CAN-SPAM law provides $100 for each unsolicited e-mailed, the amount tripled if the violation was done "willfully and knowingly." MySpace had also sued the two men for another $1.5 million under a state anti-phishing law and $4.7 million in attorneys fees.

"Anybody who's been thinking about engaging in spam are going to say 'Wow, I better not go there," Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace chief security officer, told the AP.