Reusing Social Media Photos for Ads? Be Careful!–Khachatryan v. 1 Hotel
This case involves the following photo posted to the “@brave_johnson” Instagram account, which self-describes as the account of a 7-year old and lists 2 URLs for talent agencies: [Note: normally I would think carefully about posting photos of children, but…
Court Revives Lawsuit Against Facebook Over Scammy Crypto Ads–Forrest v. Meta
Andrew Forrest is an Australian billionaire. “Beginning in 2019, Dr. Forrest learned that ads using his name and likeness to endorse cryptocurrency and other fraudulent investment products were appearing on Facebook.” Forrest contacted Facebook multiple times over the years asking…
Facebook Defeats BIPA Face-Scanning Lawsuit–Zellmer v. Meta
It’s unexpectedly turned into “BIPA Week” here at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog. 🥳 Yesterday, I blogged about an unsuccessful BIPA challenge to PhotoDNA. Today, I’m blogging about an unsuccessful BIPA challenge to Facebook’s friend-tagging feature. Despite the festivities,…
Will Biometric Privacy Laws Undermine the Fight Against CSAM?–Martell v. X
This lawsuit involves the widely used PhotoDNA database, a cornerstone of the fight against online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). PhotoDNA renders hash values of identified CSAM items and then enables services to block images with identical hash values. In…
What Should Photo Repositories Do About Blackface Photos?–Thompson v. ShutterStock
Blackface depictions have a long history of racism. In 2020, Facebook banned them as hate speech when the images “caricature” black people. At the same time, the “Black Peter” character is a long-standing (though increasingly controversial) part of Christmas celebrations…
Court Dismisses School Districts’ Lawsuits Over Social Media “Addiction”–In re Social Media Cases
[Warning: this is a 5,600 word blog post]. There are two critically important cases over “social media addiction” pending in California state court and as an MDL in the federal Northern District of California. It is an all-out brawl in…
Courts Are Rejecting Attempts to Weaponize Laws That Protect Consumer Reviews
In 2014, California enacted AB2365, sometimes called the “Yelp law,” codified at Cal. Civil Code 1670.8. The law prohibits businesses from suppressing consumer reviews (on Yelp or elsewhere). Its main substantive terms: (1) A contract or proposed contract for the…
Meme Law Alert! Meme Use In Political Ad Isn’t Fair Use–Griner v. King
The plaintiff in this case owns the copyright to the well-known “Success Kid” meme, a photo of a cute 11-month old boy named Sam. The defendants are former Rep. Steve King and his reelection campaign committee. Wikipedia calls King “far-right,”…
MA Supreme Court Blesses Uber’s TOS Clickthrough Formation–Good v. Uber
This opinion addresses the aftermath of an Internet lawyer’s nightmare. In Kauders v. Uber Techs., 486 Mass. 557 (Mass. Sup. Ct. Jan. 4, 2021), the Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down Uber’s TOS because it wasn’t properly formed. Maybe I missed…
Instagram Defeats Lawsuit Claiming It Was a “Breeding Ground” for Sex Traffickers–Doe v. Backpage
This opinion came out in March but just showed up in my alerts. Doe claims she was sex-trafficked on Instagram. Section 230 preempts her lawsuit against Facebook: “Ninth Circuit precedent interpreting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C….