Google and Twitter Defeat Lawsuit Over Account Suspensions/Terminations–DeLima v. Google

Natasha DeLima (a/k/a “Natasha Athens”) claims that Google and Twitter have imposed various sanctions on her accounts, including suspension and termination. She alleges that Google and Twitter took these actions due to political bias against her. (This article notes some…

Selling Keyword Ads Isn’t Theft or Conversion–Edible IP v. Google

It’s been years since I’ve blogged a lawsuit against Google for selling trademarked keyword ads. About a decade ago, Google was dealing with about a dozen cases. Google won some of them and settled the rest, and everyone moved on….

Continued Access to Service Not Sufficient to Bind User to New Terms of Service–Stover v. Experian

Stover signed up for an Experian subscription for credit monitoring in 2014. She alleged that Experian overstated the relevance of the credit report. She cancelled her subscription in 2014. In 2018, she accessed Experian’s website again, shortly before filing suit….

Politician Can Block Constituents at Twitter–If It’s a “Campaign” Account–Campbell v. Reisch

This is another case challenging an elected official’s blocking of a constituent’s Twitter account on First Amendment grounds. It’s a 2-1 Eighth Circuit ruling that appears to distance itself from the approach of the Second and Fourth Circuits. As Eric…

FOSTA Survives Constitutional Challenge–US v. Martono

This case involves the DOJ’s prosecution of CityXGuide.com, which allegedly tried to pick up the online commercial sex advertising business after Backpage’s shutdown. The DOJ’s initial press release and Techdirt’s coverage of it. A grand jury indicted the site’s principal,…

CASE-ing the Joint: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa [Eric’s note: Prof. Ochoa previously posted a 900 word summary of the CASE Act. This post does a 5,500 word deep dive into the law for those who want the details.] On December 27, 2020,…

Planning to Sue Twitter Over an Account Suspension? YOU WILL LOSE–Murphy v. Twitter

Murphy engaged in deadnaming and misgendering in her tweets. Twitter repeatedly disciplined Murphy’s account until it finally permanently suspended the account. Murphy sued Twitter. The lower court ruled for Twitter on Section 230 grounds. The appeals court affirmed. This court…

Mirroring Qualifies for Section 230–Monsarrat v. Newman

This case involves a LiveJournal community (the Davis Square community for Somerville, MA). In 2017, LiveJournal changed its policies. In response, Newman, the community moderator, copied all of the community’s posts and uploaded them to Dreamwidth–an action we used to…

Lawyer Can’t Sue Google for Bad Client Review–Lewis v. Google

Kerry Lewis is a lawyer. A putative client, “Lolo Mosby,” posted a zero-star rating and a negative review of him. I can’t find the review online, and the link in the court opinion no longer works. However, the complaint contains…

Court Rejects Parler’s Demand That Amazon Host Its Services

Parler, a self-described “conservative microblogging alternative and [competitor] to Twitter,” sued Amazon Web Services for suspending its service. Parler claimed (1) antitrust violations, (2) breach of contract, and (3) tortious interference. Parler sought a temporary restraining order (which the court…

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