Facebook Isn’t Liable for a Commercial Sex Relationship Gone Wrong–A.B. v. Facebook
The court summarizes the plaintiff’s contentions (note: “Lund” and “Sex Worker” are the same person): the Complaint alleges Lund “contacted” Plaintiff and provided him with “sexually provocative pictures, offer[ed] sex, description of sex acts, and other sexually provocative statements” to…
1H 2021 Quick Links, Part 2 (Section 230 and More)
* EFF: President Biden Revokes Unconstitutional Executive Order Retaliating Against Online Platforms * U.S. v. $1,546,076.35 In Bank Funds Seized from Republic Bank of Arizona Account 1889, 2020 WL 8172984 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 20, 2020): the Government sufficiently alleges that…
1H 2021 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP)
Trademarks and Domain Names * Kid Car NY, LLC v. Kidmoto Techs. LLC, 2021 WL 466975 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2021): “At the motion to dismiss stage, Kidmoto has plausibly alleged more than just the purchase of a competitor’s mark as…
Comments on Arkansas’ “Online Marketplace Consumer Inform Act” (SB 470)
It’s hard to keep up with the tsunami of new Internet laws at the state level, and I had some difficulty finding the actual text of this law as passed (I couldn’t see it at the legislative website’s page for…
Texas Supreme Court Says Amazon Isn’t the Seller of Marketplace Items It Fulfills–Amazon v McMillan
The Fifth Circuit certified the following question to the Texas Supreme Court: Under Texas products-liability law, is Amazon a “seller” of third-party products sold on Amazon’s website when Amazon does not hold title to the product but controls the process…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit By Publishers of Vaccine (Mis?)information–Children’s Health Defense v. Facebook
RFK Sr. was beloved and well-regarded. He had the Kennedy magic and benefited from the Camelot fairy tale. His son, on the other hand…well…. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded and runs the Children’s Health Defense (CHD). CHD is an “advocate…
Florida Social Media Censorship Law ENJOINED–NetChoice v. Moody
A federal judge enjoined the key parts of Florida’s SB 7072, the embarrassingly censorial attempt to turn Internet services into common carriers. This outcome may have been expected given the tenor of the oral arguments and the law’s obvious status…
New Essay: “Regulating Internet Services by Size”
Jess Miers and I have published an essay called “Regulating Internet Services by Size,” part of a special CPI Antitrust Chronicle special issue on Section 230. Our essay does two main things. First, it explains different drafting choices for defining…
YouTube Defeats Lawsuit Over Threatening Content–Wells v. YouTube
This is a pro se lawsuit. The plaintiff “contends that her image was posted on Defendant’s website in order to threaten her, that the image has been viewed millions of times, that she has ‘witnessed such threats/perceived threats’ as a…
Court Rejects Lawsuit Alleging YouTube Engaged in Racially Biased Content Moderation–Newman v. Google
Plaintiffs are African-American, Mexican, or Puerto Rican operators of YouTube channels, some of which were monetized. The plaintiffs claim the YouTube’s moderation practices targeted them based on their race, including putting their videos into Restricted Mode, demonetizing videos, and various…