TikTok Defeats Lawsuit Over User’s Suicide–Nasca v. Bytedance
The court summarizes: The plaintiffs commenced this action in connection with the death by suicide of 16 year old Chase Nasca on February 18, 2022 after he walked in front of a train. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges twelve causes of action…
Arkansas’ Social Media Safety Act Permanently Enjoined—NetChoice v. Griffin
NetChoice challenged Arkansas Act 689 of 2023, the “Social Media Safety Act.” This is a segregate-and-suppress law: the law requires some social media platforms to age-authenticate all users and prevent minors from opening accounts without parental consent. The court preliminarily…
Why I Emphatically Oppose Online Age Verification Mandates
I’ve posted a new paper, “The “Segregate-and-Suppress” Approach to Regulating Child Safety Online.” If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve been referencing this paper on the blog for months. The paper details my extensive and multi-dimensional criticisms of mandatory…
Rounding Up Some Recent Copyright Decisions
A few recent copyright cases worthy of blog coverage, but not worthy of a standalone post. Omnia Studios Ltd. v. JD E-Commerce America Ltd., 2025 WL 961473 (W.D.N.Y. March 31, 2025) This case involves the service Joybuy, which listed items…
SAD Scheme-Style Case Falls Apart When the Defendant Appears in Court—King Spider v. Pandabuy
The parties’ names make this case sound more like a Hollywood blockbuster movie than a SAD Scheme-like case. This suit isn’t a classic SAD Scheme case because the plaintiffs went after the marketplace, not the merchants. This case involves the…
Facebook Defeats Armslist’s Account Termination Lawsuit–Armslist v. Facebook
In 2020, Facebook and Instagram terminated various Armslist-related accounts, and Facebook prevented users from sending the URL armslist.com in private messages. Armslist claims these actions were in response to government jawboning targeting Armslist. Armslist sued Facebook and Instagram, alleging that…
Courts’ Expectations for TOS Formation Keep Going Up—Lee v. Plex
This is a VPPA claim against Plex (a video streaming service) regarding the use of Meta Pixels. 🙄🙄 The defendant invoked the arbitration clause in its TOS. Extensively citing Chabolla, the court rejects the arbitration request. Here is Plex’s sign-up…
Viral DRM Awarded Damages for Its 512(f) Claims, But At What Cost?
Viral DRM is a copyright enforcement agency focused on extreme weather videos. The first time I blogged about them, they brought a SAD Scheme suit that initially resulted in an ex parte TRO. However, the case fell apart on further…
Roblox Faces Potentially Unlimited Copyright Liability—Robinson v. Binello
This case involves the Maple Leaf Rag song, composed by Scott Joplin. Even if you aren’t a ragtime aficionado, you may have heard this tune. Joplin’s song is in the public domain now. The plaintiff Robinson made a recording of…
Blogiversary: What Will This Blog Look Like in 10 Years? (Part 10 of 10)
This is my 10th and final blog post in my series celebrating my 20 year blogiversary. Sadly, the series (and maybe the blog) will end on a depressing note. You might want to grab some tissues before digging in. In…