Seventh Different Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Material Support to Terrorists” Fails–Taamneh v. Twitter
By my count, this is the seventh different lawsuit concluding that social media providers are not liable for materially supporting terrorists (Cain, Crosby, Fields, Force/Cohen, Gonzalez, Pennie, Taamneh). [If I’m missing any, please let me know.] This is an impressive…
Video Advertising Contract Descends Into Possible “Cyberattack”–Radian Weapons v. GY6Vids
This is a lawsuit between Radian Weapons and GY6Vids, a company that Radian hired to promote Radian’s products on YouTube. (GY’s YouTube channel currently has almost seven hundred thousand subscribers. Press coverage of the lawsuit from The Bulletin here.) The…
Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Decision to Suspend User’s Account–Mezey v. Twitter
This decision is from July but just showed up in Westlaw. Mezey sued Twitter for suspending his account. The opinion doesn’t provide any background about the account or why Twitter suspended it. The court easily dismissed the lawsuit on Section…
Ninth Circuit Interprets Autodialer Broadly For TCPA Purposes
Marks signed up for a gym membership with Crunch Fitness. He received three text messages. He sued on behalf of a putative class. The key question is whether the messages were sent using an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) under…
Swedish Court Misunderstands Memes (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Stacey Lantagne Memes are everywhere. Part of the essential communicative fabric of social media, it’s hard to imagine Twitter or Instagram or even texting without them. They get used to react to matters of national debate, sports…
An Analysis of Title II of Public Law 115-264: The Classics Protection and Access Act (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tyler Ochoa On October 11, 2018, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1551, the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, which became Public Law 115-364, 132 Stat. 3676. The Act contains three titles pertaining to copyright law. Title…
Call for Papers/Participation: 9th Annual Internet Law Works-in-Progress, SCU, March 2, 2019
We invite your participation in the Ninth Annual Internet Law Works-in-Progress conference at Santa Clara University School of Law, March 2, 2019. The conference series is co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law and the Innovation Center for Law and Technology at the New…
Section 230 Applies to Defend Trade Secret Act Claims–Craft Beer Stellar v. Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a consumer review site for employees reviewing employers. The plaintiff in this case is a franchisor. Purported employees of a franchisee posted six negative reviews about the franchisee on Glassdoor. The reviews mentioned the francishor’s CEO, Suzanne Schalow,…
FOSTA Doesn’t Help Pro Se Litigant’s Defamation Claim Against Facebook
This is a typical pro se defamation lawsuit against Facebook. The plaintiff claims that other Facebook users defamed him in a Facebook group. The court treats this as an easy Section 230 case. The court applies the standard three-part test…
Constitutional Challenge to FOSTA Dismissed for Lack of Standing (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alex F. Levy On September 24, 2018, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia dismissed a case challenging the constitutionality of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). FOSTA, which…