Amazon Must Defend “Yelp Law” Claim–Ramos v. Amazon
I support statutes that restrict businesses from contractually “gagging” their customers’ reviews. This pernicious business practice emerged around 15 years ago. Eventually, both state legislatures and Congress banned the practice. The flagship law in this area is the Consumer Review…
Attempt to Weaponize Section 230(c)(2)(B) Fails on Ripeness Grounds–Zuckerman v. Facebook
Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at UMass Amherst, wants to code and offer an app he calls Unfollow Everything 2.0, “which would automate the process of unfollowing friends, groups, and pages on a user’s Facebook social media profile.” Because he expects…
Section 230 Applies to Gamer’s Complaints About Griefing–Haymore v. Amazon
This is a pro se/in pro per lawsuit. Andrew Grant Haymore played the MMORPG “New World” and used the New World discord server, from which he was banned. He alleges the ban diminished his investment of 10k hours and $1,700…
Courts Are Echoing The Third Circuit’s Repeal of Section 230–Huckabee v. Meta
Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel. He claims that CBD advertisers featured his name, photo, and likeness in Facebook ads. An example of the ads is displayed on the right. As…
Section 230 Immunizes OnlyFans for User-Uploaded Video–Doe v. Fenix
[Trump came close to repealing Section 230 in the 2020 lame-duck Congressional session (while he was also busy fomenting the J6 insurrection). With him returning to the presidency, the odds are extremely high that he will finish this project and…
Section 230 Defeats Underage User’s Lawsuit Against Grindr–Doll v. Pelphrey
This is another lawsuit against Grindr claiming that Grindr made it too easy for underage users to sign up and meet other users for sex. Thus, the plaintiff alleges “Grindr should have prevented C.D. from communicating with them by implementing…
Internet Access Providers Face Contributory Copyright Liability for Subscribers’ Infringements–UMG v. Grande
This is another lawsuit against an Internet access provider (IAP) for user-committed copyright infringement via P2P file sharing. For more background on this issue, see this rrcap and the links at the bottom of this post. My post on a…
Court Enjoins California’s Anti-“Political Deepfakes” Law (AB 2839) Because It’s Unconstitutional Censorship–Kohls v. Bonta
In September, California enacted AB 2839. It seeks to remove certain types of politically themed “materially deceptive content” (including “deepfakes” 🙄) during the election season, except for some labeled parodies and satire. The law provides a private right of action…
eBay Isn’t Liable for Merchants’ Sales of Items That Violate Environmental Laws–US v. eBay
The EPA civilly sued eBay for third-party merchant listings of items that violate environmental laws. For example, the EPA identified over 300k aftermarket “defeat device” listings, 5k+ listings for products containing methylene chloride, and 23k listings for violative pesticides. eBay…
Angi Can’t Dismiss Lawsuit Over Failed Vendor Authentication–Everyspace v. Encor
Angi’s is the rebrand of the former Angie’s List. It matches contractors with homeowners. The plaintiff claims that the defendant company is engaging in a form of corporate identity theft, trading on its license number, and that Angi promoted the…