The Fifth Circuit’s Campaign to Undermine Section 230 Is Making Progress–AB v. Salesforce
…should have known) was engaged in sex trafficking. Hold on. In the last sentence, the court uses the generic descriptor “a company.” That’s deceptively imprecise. Salesforce didn’t just serve any…
Court Declares Parts of Twitter’s TOS Unconscionable–Gerber v. Twitter
This is a data breach case involving a flaw in Twitter’s API that allowed malefactors to steal information about 200M Twitter users. Twitter invokes its TOS, including its warranty disclaimer…
Thumbs-Up Emoji Formed Binding Sales Contract in Canada–Achter v. South West Terminal
This is the instant-classic lawsuit involving a Saskatchewan farmer who text-messaged a “thumbs-up” emoji in response to an offer to buy his flax. The lower court found that the seller’s…
Facebook Defeats User’s TOS Breach Claim–Lloyd v. Facebook
Lloyd sued Facebok for a variety of claims (I initially described the suit as “a standard kitchen-sink pro se lawsuit against Facebook”). The district court dismissed the complaint in 2022….
Omegle Defeats Lawsuit Over User’s “Capping”–MH v. Omegle
I previously described this case: Omegle enables real-time video and text chats with users assigned at random. The case involves an 11 year old girl who was a first-time Omegle…
Uber’s TOS Formation Upheld Again–Wu v. Uber
Goodness gracious, I could teach an entire semester of Internet Law focused solely on Uber’s TOS formation. It’s a source of never-ending, and sometimes avoidable, drama. This opinion is a…
How Many Times Must the Courts Say “No” to This Guy?–Fyk v. Facebook
In 2018, Jason Fyk sued Facebook for removing and blocking his content. My previous summary of this litigation campaign: His lawsuit against Facebook was dashed by Section 230 in the…
Does IP Law Protect Influencers’ Aesthetics?–Gifford v. Sheil (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alexandra J. Roberts It’s become known as the “sad beige lawsuit” or the case that asks the question “can you ever really own an aesthetic?” But the…
Unfair and Impolite Tweets Aren’t Defamatory–Flynn v. Wilson
The plaintiff in this case is Mike Flynn, who served in important roles in the Trump 1.0 administration, got fired, and received a Trump pardon. I previously blogged his lawsuit…
Suspended Twitter User Loses Lawsuit Due to Section 230–Ryan v. X
[This blog post covers two decisions in the same lawsuit: the ruling on X’s initial motion to dismiss from September, which apparently never triggered my Westlaw or Lexis alerts, and…