2025 Internet Law Year-in-Review
2025 is the Trump 2.0 era, so you won’t find much upbeat news in this Internet Law year-in-review. 10. Are Websites Legally Equivalent to Exploding Coke Bottles? Traditionally, tort law distinguishes between tangible items (chattels) and intangible services. Several doctrines…
A Massive Roundup of Section 230 Decisions
This post also owes its origins to my 2-week trip to China in June. Section 230 decisions started backing up while I was on the trip and never stopped accruing. In total, this post covers about 30 decisions in 7k+…
Too Many Courts Are Letting States Take Wrecking Balls to the Internet (Roundup)
‘Tis the season for Internet censorship. 🎄 More accurately, Internet censorship is now a four-season sport in state legislatures. There is not a stereotypical red state/blue state divide. Instead, the “divide” is between pro-censorship and anti-censorship legislators. You can count…
Google Can Assert a DMCA 512(d) Defense–Cengage v. Google (Catch-Up Post)
Textbook publishers are suing Google for its alleged role in facilitating what they consider to be mass piracy. In June 2025, the court partially denied Google’s motion to dismiss. Still remaining in the case are the plaintiffs’ contributory copyright infringement…
District Court Again Rejects Plaintiffs’ Attempts to Manufacture Common Law Notice-and-Takedown Duties–Bogard v. TikTok
This is a quirky lawsuit designed to subvert Section 230, the First Amendment, and traditional common law. I previously summarized the case: This lawsuit purports to focuses on the allegedly defective operation of the services’ reporting tools, but the plaintiffs’…
Courts Enjoin Internet Censorship Laws in Louisana and Arkansas
[I have a mondo draft roundup blog post, coming soon, covering a lot of segregate-and-suppress rulings. For now, I’ve prioritized coverage of these two rulings due to their importance. I’ll discuss the Louisiana law first, then the Arkansas law. Warning:…
OnlyFans Defeats “Chatter Scam” Claim–N.Z. v. Fenix
The court summarizes the plaintiffs’ “chatter scam” contentions: Plaintiffs allege that Fenix Defendants, in cooperation with the Agency Defendants, operate a fraudulent scheme whereby Fenix Defendants charge OnlyFans subscribers to communicate directly with creators, purport to connect subscribers with creators,…
Extortion Claims Against Ripoff Report Can Proceed–Selker v. Xcentric
My prior blog post on this case summarized: I’ve blogged many Ripoff Report cases over the years, but it’s been a while since my last one (looks like 2018?). In this case, the plaintiff alleges that someone posted a false attack…
YouTuber Loses Account Suspension Case Again–Hall v. YouTube
This is a futile account termination/content removal case, like dozens before it. Prior blog post. So I’m blogging this ruling for completion, not significance. After the prior dismissal, the YouTuber filed an amended complaint: The FAC complains that YouTube engaged…
Addiction Lawsuit Against TikTok Can Proceed in Nevada–TikTok v. Nevada District Court
All eyes are on the social media addiction class action lawsuits in California federal and state courts, where the plaintiffs are getting close to conducting trials that pose existential implications for many of the major social media services. Meanwhile, in…