Your Periodic Reminder That Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Williby v. Zuckerberg
This is my fourth blog post on a social media “censorship”/deplatforming ruling in 11 days (see also Fyk v. Facebook, Murphy v. Twitter and Brittain v. Twitter). This litigation tsunami is taking place even though these cases have absolutely no legal merit….
The Plaintiff Is Probably Pissed About Section 230–Fyk v. Facebook
[I’ll blog an analysis of Sen. Hawley’s bill attacking Section 230 soon.] Jason Fyk created Facebook pages “dedicated to videos and pictures of people urinating….Plaintiff alleges that Facebook blocked content posted by Plaintiff and removed content in order to make…
Linkwrap on Sen. Hawley’s Bill Attacking Section 230
As you probably saw, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a new bill, “Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act,” targeting Section 230. The associated press release. Like most Congressional bill names, the title is a complete misdirection. Of course private entities aren’t…
Twitter Gets Another Significant Section 230 Win in Lawsuit by Suspended User–Murphy v. Twitter
Murphy had about 25,000 Twitter followers. She repeatedly referred to a trangender female as male in her tweets. Twitter suspended her account for “misgendering.” After more negative interactions between them, Twitter permanently banned Murphy. Murphy claimed that Twitter changed its…
![[Statute of] Queen Anne’s Revenge? Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Allen v. Cooper](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Queen_Annes_Revenge-150x150.jpg)
[Statute of] Queen Anne’s Revenge? Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Allen v. Cooper
By guest blogger Tyler Ochoa If your literary or artistic work is copied by a state government or state officials, can you sue those defendants for copyright infringement? Section 511 of the Copyright Act says that you can, but conventional…
Once Again, Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Account Suspension Decisions–Brittain v. Twitter
This is another easy defense win in a pro se case, and yet another lawsuit indirectly involving Trump and his supporters. Twitter suspended four accounts run by Craig Brittain of IsAnybodyDown? “revenge” porn infamy. Brittain sued. My prior blog post…
Vermont Supreme Court Dismisses Nonconsensual Pornography Prosecution–State v. VanBuren
Last year, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld Vermont’s sui generis crime of nonconsensual pornography dissemination (13 V.S.A. § 2606) from a facial constitutional challenge. This ruling was surprising because the court said that the law didn’t fit into any of…
D.C. Circuit Issues Sweeping Pro-Section 230 Opinion–Marshall’s Locksmith v. Google
The DC Circuit has produced some defense-favorable Section 230 rulings, including Klayman v. Zuckerberg and Bennett v. Google. This opinion may be the most favorable yet. The plaintiffs are self-styled “legitimate” locksmiths who claim that Google gives too much prominence…
Contract Breach Claims Against Google Survive First Amendment Defense–Dreamstime v. Google
Dreamstime sells stock photos. It alleges that Google partnered with its competitors and then maliciously downgraded Dreamstime’s visibility, first in organic search results and then in keyword ads. Google allegedly also kicked Dreamstime’s app out of Google Play. Dreamstime sued…
The Florida Bar Regulates, But Doesn’t Ban, Competitive Keyword Ads
The Florida Bar has a drama-filled history regarding the regulation of competitive keyword advertising by lawyers. This post explains the background. In 2013, the bar was poised to ban competitive keyword ads, but at the last minute it did a…