Section 230 Doesn’t Apply to High Schoolers’ Online Bullying–Kutchinski v. Freeland Community School District
HK built an Instagram account impersonating a teacher. He “made one innocuous post on the account.” He unwisely shared the login credentials with two classmates, KL and LF. Those classmates made “incendiary posts” about other teachers (and tagged those teachers)…
Section 230 Immunizes Snap, Even if It’s “Inherently Dangerous”–L.W. v. Snap
Predators allegedly used Snap to groom minors for sex and to obtain CSAM from them. The plaintiffs asserted products liability and related claims against Snap, on the premise that Snap “is an inherently dangerous software product that Defendants deceptively advertise…
Google Isn’t Liable for Scam Ads–Ynfante v. Google
Ynfante responded to a scam ad shown when he Google-searched for “ebay customer service number,” and he called a phishing farm instead of eBay. “After Mr. Ynfante divulged his account information to the scam helpline, the scammers made purchases on…
Section 230 Once Again Immunizes Google’s Search Results–Metroka v. PA Law Enforcement
In June 2022, Nadia Metroka (a Florida lawyer, apparently) was arrested in Pennsylvania. “Information about the arrest was published on the Montgomery County Crimewatch website, and it was ‘picked up by GOOGLE’s search engine.’” (Is this the news release in…
Sad that Twitter Deplatformed Trump? Don’t Take It to Court–Rutenberg v. Twitter
Maria Rutenberg apparently found Trump’s tweets so meaningful that she sued Twitter for deplatforming Trump and subtracting that meaning from her life. Rutenberg can now scratch her Trump itch at Truth Social, plus Musk has invited Trump back to Twitter….
Who Owns Social Media Accounts?–In re Bang Energy Drinks
The categorization of social media accounts into “business” and “personal” accounts was a hot issue a decade ago, when states across the country passed laws to protect employees from invasive employer demands to access or control their personal social media…
Class Certification Denied Over Rightsowners’ Demands for Content ID Access–Schneider v. YouTube
The court summarizes the case: “plaintiffs allege that YouTube has violated the copyright laws by withholding broad access to Content ID….Plaintiffs also allege that YouTube automatically strips metadata out of uploaded videos, including copyright management information (CMI), which makes it…
Court Greenlights TikTok Content Moderators’ Lawsuit–Young v. ByteDance
TikTok outsources some of its content moderation/review to third-party BPOs (Atrium and Telus). Two BPO-employed reviewers claim they suffered psychological harm from their work. The lawsuit claims the BPOs were TikTok’s proxies. Allegedly: TikTok provided all “instructional” and “training” materials. …
More Thoughts about the SCOTUS Twitter and Google Rulings
[I did a media interview about last week’s Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google rulings. The transcript:] What got you into the field of internet law? What is most interesting in the field right now? I have been researching…
Competitive Keyword Ad Lawsuit Fails…Despite 236 Potentially Confused Customers–Lerner & Rowe v. Brown Engstrand
This case involves two rival personal injury law firms in Arizona, one of which engaged in competitive keyword advertising against the other. The court dismisses the lawsuit on summary judgment. The court focuses on the likelihood of consumer confusion. The…