The plaintiff is deaf. He tried to watch videos on the USA Today website but couldn’t due to the lack of closed captioning. USA Today defended on the grounds that its website isn’t a place of public accommodation. The court…
Advertising/E-Commerce * Ariix, LLC v. NutriSearch Corp., 2021 WL 221878 (9th Cir Jan. 22, 2021): companies now pay so-called “influencers” to issue posts on social media touting their products or services. While such social media posts may not have the…
This case relates to a joyous and heartwarming video you’ve probably seen, where two 2-year-old boys–one black, one white–run up to each other, give each other a big hug like they are long-lost friends, and then run down the sidewalk…
Users of “Microsoft 365 For Business” allege oversharing by Microsoft, which translates into claims under (1) the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act; (2) Washington’s Consumer Protection Act; (3) the Washington one-party consent phone statute; and (4) common law….
When Trump signed his anti-230 EO in May 2020, I was immediately overwhelmed with media calls all asking the same basic question: this is garbage, right? We now have the final answer to that question. As I and others predicted…
Content Moderation * NYT: Inside Twitter’s Decision to Cut Off Trump * Axios: All the platforms that have banned or restricted Trump so far * NY Times: What Happened When Trump Was Banned on Social Media * NY Times: Mark…
Daniels is a YouTuber apparently of the #MAGA persuasion. Represented by Maria Cristina Armenta and Credence Elizabeth Sol, best known for litigating an ultimately unsuccessful censorial “Innocence of Muslims” lawsuit against YouTube, Daniels brought a routine “YouTube-is-censorsing-me” lawsuit seeking to…
Prof. Christa Laser (Cleveland-Marshall) and I engaged in a point/counterpoint about legal mechanisms to address inauthentic recordings and photos, including AI-assisted forged videos (a/k/a “deepfakes”). She argued for a notice-and-takedown scheme in some circumstances, including those creating fake pornographic images….
The court summarizes the plaintiff’s contentions (note: “Lund” and “Sex Worker” are the same person): the Complaint alleges Lund “contacted” Plaintiff and provided him with “sexually provocative pictures, offer[ed] sex, description of sex acts, and other sexually provocative statements” to…
* EFF: President Biden Revokes Unconstitutional Executive Order Retaliating Against Online Platforms * U.S. v. $1,546,076.35 In Bank Funds Seized from Republic Bank of Arizona Account 1889, 2020 WL 8172984 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 20, 2020): the Government sufficiently alleges that…