“Material Support for Terrorism” Lawsuit Fails a Third Time–Colon v. Twitter
This lawsuit alleges that social media providers contributed to the 2016 Pulse Nightclub terrorist attack in Orlando that killed 49 people and injured dozens more. If that sounds familiar, that’s because those facts formed the basis of the Crosby v….
YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Over Channel Termination–Mishiyev v. Alphabet
Mishiyev, a/k/a “DJ Short-e,” is a YouTuber who claims he had 100M+ views and 250k subscribers. His videos started getting copyright complaints in 2016. He counternoticed those, but he claims he nevertheless saw traffic dropoffs and started making demands of…
Recap of the USDOJ’s Section 230 Roundtable
[Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the EARN IT Act, so I thought it would be a good time to catch up on this backlogged post on related topics.] In February, I attended two events organized…
The EARN IT Act Partially Repeals Section 230, But It Won’t Help Children
The EARN IT Act, S. 3398, was introduced last week. I believe this is the introduced version. I previously blogged a pre-introduction version of the EARN IT Act. The bill underwent substantial changes from the February draft–a few good, mostly…
46 Academics Encourage Congress To Consider Section 230’s Benefits
On behalf of ourselves and 44 other academics, Prof. David Levine (Elon) and I sent a letter to Congress regarding the benefits of Section 230. Congress is already focusing plenty of attention on Section 230’s costs, but Section 230’s benefits…
Radio Hosts Aren’t Liable for Online Attacks Against Beleaguered Referee–Higgins v. Kentucky Sports Radio
The case relates to the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team’s 2017 season-ending loss at the hands of University of North Carolina–a loss that many fans blamed on referee John Higgins’ officiating. UK fans unleashed their fury against Higgins’ day…
First Voters Reject Tulsi Gabbard, Then a Judge Does–Gabbard v. Google
Super Tuesday wasn’t so super for Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. First, she polled less than 1%–territory usually occupied by withdrawn or fringe candidates. Though, remarkably, she did earn two delegates. Mind blown. Second, the same day, a court completely…
Snapchat’s Speed Filter Protected by Section 230–Lemmon v. Snap
This case involves a fatal crash after the car occupants used Snapchat’s speed filter to record going 123 mph. Snapchat defended the subsequent personal injury lawsuit on Section 230 grounds. The court previously dismissed the case with leave to amend….
YouTube Isn’t a State Actor (DUH)–PragerU v. Google
We live in an upside-down world where “conservatives” are actively seeking to impose must-carry obligations on Internet services by characterizing them as state actors. These arguments are ill-considered as “conservative” doctrine because they would massively expand the scope of government…
Yelp Defeats Businesses’ “Right to Be Forgotten” Claims—Spiegelman v. Yelp
The plaintiffs sued Yelp for using their business information, including their names, photographs and likenesses, without permission. Though the opinion doesn’t expressly state it, it appears these plaintiffs were seeking to get delisted from Yelp’s databases, which is why I’m…