Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 7 (Section 230)
* FTC v. Match Group LLC, 2022 WL 877107 (N.D. Tex. March 24, 2022). A rare and surprisingly bad loss for the FTC on Section 230. The FTC alleged that: from 2013 to mid-2018, nonsubscribers were unaware that “as many…
Snapchat Isn’t Liable for a Teacher’s Sexual Predation–Doe v. Snap
A high school teacher allegedly used Snapchat to groom a sophomore student for a sexual relationship. (Atypically, the teacher was female and the victim was male, but the genders are irrelevant to this incident). Among other defendants, the victim sued…
Sixth Circuit: Government Official Can Freely Censor Constituents at his Public Facebook Page–Lindke v. Freed
James Freed is city manager for Port Huron, MI. (It appears this is an appointed, not elected, position). He had a personal Facebook profile that, over time, exceeded the 5k friend cap. Freed converted the profile to a public Facebook…
Court Quashes 512(h) Subpoena on First Amendment Grounds–In re 512(h) Subpoena to Twitter
This case involves a pseudonymous Twitter account, “@CallMeMoneyBags.” The account tweeted some remarks, including photos, critical of billionaire Brian Sheth. Soon after, an entity called Bayside asserted copyright ownership of the photos and sent 512(c)(3) takedown notices to Twitter followed…
Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 6 (Defamation & Much More)
Defamation * US Dominion Inc. v. Fox Network News LLC, No.: N21C-03-257 EMD (Del. Superior Ct. Dec. 16, 2021). Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for its role in the “Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election results survives Fox…
Another Court Says Section 230 Applies to Retweeting–Holmok v. Burke
Holmok teaches at Lakewood High School. Virag tweeted: “When I was in his engineering class, I had been a part of a few reports filed against him. Some being racial and some being sexist. Nothing was ever done.” Burke retweeted…
Will California Eliminate Anonymous Web Browsing? (Comments on CA AB 2273, The Age-Appropriate Design Code Act)
I’m continuing my coverage of dangerous Internet bills in the California legislature. This job is especially challenging during an election year, when legislators rally behind the “protect the kids” mantra to pursue bills that are likely to hurt, or at…
Will California Clone-and-Revise Some Terrible Ideas from Florida/Texas’ Social Media Censorship Laws? (Analysis of CA AB587)
[Note: this is the first of what may become a 3 or 4 part series about anti-Internet bills moving through the California legislature.] This post analyzes California AB 587, self-described as “Content Moderation Requirements for Internet Terms of Service.” I…
Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 5 (Free Speech)
Russia * NYT: Russia Intensifies Censorship Campaign, Pressuring Tech Giants. The US government should more aggressively condemn “landing laws” as a violation of free speech? * Wired: Russia Blocks Facebook and Twitter in a Propaganda Standoff * Bloomberg: Russia Steps…
Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 4 (The Algorithms; Facebook)
[Shoutout to all of the dads out there! 🎉] The Algorithms * What would happen if FB turned off its newsfeed algorithm? In February 2018, a Facebook researcher all but shut off the News Feed ranking algorithm for .05% of…