[This is a 6k+ word blog post that was joyless to write and most likely will be joyless to read.] If you want a distillation of this decision, consider this line: “Far from justifying pre-enforcement facial invalidation, the Platforms’ obsession…
[The Internet you know and love is on life support after an awful NetChoice v. Paxton Fifth Circuit opinion and the enactment of two California laws, AB 2273 and AB 587. I’ve written so much about those bills that I…
When a proposed new law is sold as “protecting kids online,” regulators and commenters often accept the sponsors’ claims uncritically (because…kids). This is unfortunate because those bills can harbor ill-advised policy ideas. The California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC / AB2273,…
Today, I’m continuing my coverage of CA AADC (AB 2273) with a few memes on the subject: * * * * * * * * * My caption: “CAPTCHA vendors are training their age assurance algorithms for CA’s Age Appropriate…
Texas A&M (TAMU) does medical experiments on dogs. PETA objects to these experiments and commented on TAMU’s social media pages. TAMU blocked PETA, which led to a prior lawsuit that settled. The settlement terms included: “TAMU would not exercise viewpoint…
Alkutkar used the dating app Bumble. He paid money to get extra visibility for his dating profile and claims he got poor results, so he sued Bumble for false advertising. Bumble successfully redirects the case to arbitration based on its…
Troia was a LoanStreet employee. He was allegedly fired for cause. Troia posted disparaging comments about LoanStreet at Glassdoor.com, Reddit.com, and Teamblind.com. He then worked to boost the posts’ visibility, including: the posts asked users to “follow [his] link and…
This lawsuit relates to the “Toast Plus” app that was available in Apple’s app store. The plaintiffs claim it was a spoof app designed to steal cryptocurrency worth $5k in Diep’s case and $500k in Nagao’s case (ouch). The plaintiffs’…
I did a media interview regarding AB 2273 that I thought was worth sharing here. For more on the bill, see my prior coverage: Op-ed Explainer Deep dive Can the existing UK Age-Appropriate Design Code tell us anything about what…
Section 230 Doesn’t Protect App Stores That Sell Virtual Chips for Casino Apps–In re Apple App Store
Introduction This case relates to “social casino apps” that simulate casino games like slot machines. Players pay real cash to buy virtual chips, which they can only use in the app, i.e., the player can never cash out their virtual…