Addiction Lawsuit Against Character AI Can Proceed–Garcia v. Character Technologies
Online addiction lawsuits are proliferating across the country, a trend that will continue so long as plaintiffs think they can win. This decision largely rejects the defendants’ motion to dismiss, which will induce more plaintiff lawyers to bring more cases….
Video Game Addiction Case Mostly Sent to Arbitration–Orellana v. Roblox (Catch-up Post)
[Introductory note: This case appeared in my alerts recently. It is one of the many video game addiction lawsuits percolating throughout the courts nationwide. I don’t have a census of all of those cases because they aren’t hitting my alerts….
School Board Official Censored Constituent by Blocking Access to Their Social Media Account–Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliff
This case involves two PUSD school board members, O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane, who “used their public Facebook and Twitter pages to post about goings-on at PUSD and their activities as Trustees.” The court summarizes: “In response to the Garniers’ numerous critical…
Amazon Merchant Takedown Notice Attack Spills Over to Court–GM Photo v. Focus Camera
[Note: lawsuits over takedown notice attacks occur occasionally. I’m blogging this case as an exemplar, not because it’s unique.] This case involves two Amazon marketplace merchants, GM Photo (operating as Digital Village) and Focus Camera. At issue are “high-end Sigma…
More Account Termination Cases Fail in Court
The account termination lawsuits keep coming, so I’ll keep blogging them. Housman v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 2025 WL 1249157 (D. Nev. April 29, 2025) This is a pro se/in pro per case. “Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges Defendants Meta, TikTok, X, and…
Section 230 and the First Amendment Curtail An Online Videogame Addiction Lawsuit–Angelilli v. Activision
The court summarizes the plaintiffs’ allegations: D.G. began playing video games when he was six years old and at some point became addicted. Plaintiffs further allege that D.G.’s gaming has resulted in serious harm, including emotional distress, lost friends, and…
Court Permanently Enjoins Ohio’s Segregate-and-Suppress/Parental Consent Law–NetChoice v. Yost
Ohio enacted a segregate-and-suppress law that requires regulated websites to obtain parental consent before minors can access certain site features. In early 2024, the court granted a preliminary injunction against the law going into effect. Borrowing heavily from its prior…
WeChat Defeats Account Termination Lawsuit–Sun v. WeChat
I’m blogging this otherwise unremarkable case for completeness. WeChat blocked Sun’s account in 2022, allegedly because Sun was discussing Chinese politics. Sun sued WeChat pro se for violating his civil rights (a 1983 claim). This is an easy dismissal. As…
TikTok Defeats Lawsuit Over User’s Suicide–Nasca v. Bytedance
The court summarizes: The plaintiffs commenced this action in connection with the death by suicide of 16 year old Chase Nasca on February 18, 2022 after he walked in front of a train. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges twelve causes of action…
Arkansas’ Social Media Safety Act Permanently Enjoined—NetChoice v. Griffin
NetChoice challenged Arkansas Act 689 of 2023, the “Social Media Safety Act.” This is a segregate-and-suppress law: the law requires some social media platforms to age-authenticate all users and prevent minors from opening accounts without parental consent. The court preliminarily…