Parler, a self-described “conservative microblogging alternative and [competitor] to Twitter,” sued Amazon Web Services for suspending its service. Parler claimed (1) antitrust violations, (2) breach of contract, and (3) tortious interference. Parler sought a temporary restraining order (which the court…
A tsunami of new Section 230 reform bills is coming soon. The early previews suggest those bills will be just as terrible as the bills from the 116th Congress. This bill comes from Rep. DesJarlais (R-TN), who voted against certifying…
Some emoji law highlights from 2020: * My caselaw tally shows 132 cases referencing emojis or emoticons in 2020, a 25% increase from 2019. This year, I noticed that emojis are showing up in more murder cases–10 in 2020, compared…
by guest blogger Tyler Ochoa [Eric’s intro: The following is an excerpt from Joyce, Ochoa and Carroll, Copyright Law (2021 Supplement). In a future post, Prof. Ochoa will do a deep dive on the CASE Act for the geeks.] [C]…
This case involves a school district near San Diego. The plaintiffs are parents of kids in the school district. The defendants, O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane, are elected school board members. The defendants blocked the plaintiffs on social media. In light of…
This is a pro se lawsuit. Damner claims his Facebook account was hacked in April 2020 and the hacker(s) took it over. He notified Facebook but allegedly it never responded. Damner sued Facebook for Stored Communications Act claims and others….
Section 230 had such a drama-filled year that I decided to do a separate roundup, in addition to my annual Internet Law wrapup coming soon. (I know 2020 feels like it was a decade ago…) Trigger warning: this post is…
[Published in the San Jose Mercury-News, January 10, 2021] Section 230, which says that websites aren’t liable for third-party content, has developed an increasingly bad reputation. In December, Pres. Trump vetoed a critical $740 billion military funding bill because Congress…
Contracts * Kidstar v. Facebook, Inc., 2020 WL 4382279 (D.N.J. July 31, 2020). The plaintiff sued Facebook because he lost access to photos in his account. assuming, arguendo, that Plaintiff opened a Facebook account in 2004, the 2009 User Agreement…
This lawsuit, like many others before it, claims that UGC services like YouTube commit illegal discrimination based on how they moderate content. Despite its lack of novelty, this lawsuit got some media coverage for two reasons: (1) most of the…