Airbnb Uses Section 230 to Defeat a Personal Injury Claim–Smith v. Airbnb
I was a little surprised by this ruling. The Ninth Circuit’s HomeAway ruling seemingly eliminated Section 230 for any transactions that Airbnb booked, at least in the Ninth Circuit. Yet, this court finds that Section 230 fully protects Airbnb…amazingly without…
Armslist Loses Two Section 230 Rulings, But Still Defeats Both Lawsuits
Armslist has become a critical player for Section 230 jurisprudence in Wisconsin. It’s not going well for Armslist or Section 230. Due to the Seventh Circuit’s troubled Section 230 jurisprudence, two federal district judges in Wisconsin ruled that Armslist didn’t…
Yearbook Defendants Lose Two More Section 230 Rulings
2021 has seen the emergence of a litigation genre against “yearbook” database vendors that publish old yearbooks online. I’ve blogged three yearbook cases so far this year (Callahan v. Ancestry, Knapke v. Classmates, and Sessa v. Ancestry), and today I’ll…
The U.S. Department of Justice Defends Section 230’s Constitutionality
The DOJ stirred up some chatter when it announced that it was defending Section 230’s constitutionality in Trump’s lawsuits against the social media services. I wasn’t sure why so many people were buzzing about the move. The DOJ had previously…
Court Enjoins Texas’ Attempt to Censor Social Media, and the Opinion Is a Major Development in Internet Law–NetChoice v. Paxton
Earlier this year, the Texas legislature enacted HB 20, a blatant attempt to censor social media service. The Texas law emulated a similar Florida censorship law. In June, a Florida district court enjoined based on the First Amendment and Section…
Catching Up on NetChoice v. Paxton, the Challenge to Texas’ Social Media Censorship Law
Earlier this year, Texas enacted a brazenly censorial #MAGA bill, HB 20. My blog post analyzing the law. The law goes into effect on December 2 if it’s not enjoined, so a court decision should come in the next few…
City Government Can’t Remove Off-Topic Comments From Its Social Media Page–Kimsey v. Sammamish
Sammamish is a city in the greater Seattle metro area. It operates a Facebook page entitled “City of Sammamish – Government.” City employees post about events, public safety, and more. The city also livestreamed its city council meetings on its…
One More Time: Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Atkinson v. Facebook
Cameron Atkinson self-describes as “a Christian, a trial and appellate lawyer at Pattis & Smith, LLC, a former business consultant, a published constitutional scholar, and a general hell-raiser.” Publicly testing his appellate/Conlaw chops and hell-raising skills, he took his own…
Section 230 Helps Facebook and TikTok Defeat Claim Over Harassment Campaign–Winter v. Facebook
The plaintiffs claim a third party, Dolan, “engaged in a pattern of behavior that resulted in the harassment of the Plaintiffs on her social media accounts” due to “Facebook and TikTok’s failure to take down [ ] false abusive posts…
All of Trump’s Social Media Lawsuits Now Have Been Transferred to the Defendants’ Home Courts–Trump v. Facebook
In July, Trump sued Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for terminating his accounts in three separate doomed-to-fail lawsuits. The lawsuits were filed in Trump’s home court of Southern District of Florida. The three defendants all filed motions to transfer the cases…