Russia Fucked With American Democracy, But It Can’t Fuck With Section 230–Federal Agency of News v. Facebook
The plaintiff FAN allegedly is part of a Russian government agency, Internet Research Agency, that undermined the integrity of our 2016 presidential elections. In other words, FAN apparently was a Russian troll operation. As part of its post-2016 election cleanup,…
Another Blocked Facebook User Loses in Court–Dipp-Paz v. Facebook
This ruling doesn’t break any new ground, so I’m blogging it mostly for completeness. The pro se plaintiff sued Facebook for violating his free speech rights by blocking his account. He alleged: It’s not the first time that I get…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship, Defamation)
Censorship * Fortune: The Splinternet Is Growing * NY Times: India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship * South China Morning Post: No smoking, no tattoos, no bikinis: inside China’s war to ‘clean up’ the internet * NY Times: In China, an…
Comments on the Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez Lawsuit Over AOC’s Twitter Blocks
The same day as the Second Circuit’s Knight First Amendment v. Trump ruling, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was sued for blocking accounts on Twitter. See Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez, 1:19-cv-03956 (E.D.N.Y. complaint filed July 9, 2019). The same-day turnaround on the complaint suggests…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Content Moderation)
Section 230 * Historical archive of Section 230 case materials (with Jeff Kosseff) * Some Congressmembers are developing a letter asking the State Department to delete the Section 230-like immunity from the USMCA. Background. * Cunningham v. Montes, 2019 WL…
Large and Diverse Coalition Issues a Statement of Principles to Help Evaluate UGC Liability Reform Proposals
Yesterday, I posted a 2,300 word takedown of Sen. Hawley’s anti-Section 230 bill. That post took me at least 6 hours of drafting time, and 3 weeks of chronological time, to prepare. I separately wrote a deconstruction of the UK…
![Comments on Sen. Hawley's "[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act"](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/censorship-meme-150x150.jpg)
Comments on Sen. Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act”
Sen. Josh Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act” (S. 1914) would require large(ish) Internet companies to prove to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that they publish user content in a politically neutral way–or categorically lose Section 230 immunity. In…
Pres. Trump Violates the Constitution By Blocking @RealDonaldTrump Followers–Knight First Amendment v. Trump
In the Knight Foundation’s First Amendment lawsuit against President Trump for blocking Twitter users, the Second Circuit says that his blocking of users based on their viewpoints violates the First Amendment. This is a resounding loss for the President. (Our…
Section 230 Protects Snapchat from Liability for Cyberbullying–Grossman v. Rockaway Township
This case involves the heartbreaking suicide of 12 year old Mallory Grossman, driven by offline and online peer bullying that included mean Snapchat messages. (Note: the opinion refers to Mallory as “MG,” but poor redactions reveal her name in the…
Latest Linkwrap on FOSTA’s Aftermath
Some FOSTA-related links that have accumulated over the past few months: Lucy Kahn, “Against FOSTA/SESTA: One Canary’s Cry From Inside the Coal Mine“ Now that FOSTA/SESTA has been voted into law, I’ve literally seen my advertising platforms disappear before my…