Social Media Is Often a Defamation-Free Zone…But Not Always–Steak N Shake v. White
I’ve blogged some recent cases showing how it’s become really, really hard to win defamation cases over social media content (e.g., Rapaport v. Barstool). Still, online defamation claims can succeed, as this case shows. But even if the plaintiff wins…
Government Jawboning Doesn’t Turn Internet Services into State Actors–Doe v. Google
The plaintiffs are “conservative content creators” (i.e., QAnon enthusiasts) who posted videos to YouTube. YouTube suspended their accounts. The plaintiffs sued for First Amendment violations (presumably a 1983 claim). The court previously denied a TRO. YouTube now gets the case…
Anti-Zionist Loses Lawsuit Over Social Media Account Suspensions–Martillo v. Facebook
Martillo claims that six social media services suspended his accounts because he is an anti-Zionist. He sued for Title II discrimination. The court responds: “the defendants’ social media platforms are not places of ‘public accommodation.’ The statutory definition of a…
There Is No Bottom When It Comes to Section 230 Reform Proposals (Comments on the Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act)
When I first saw the Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act. my draft version didn’t identify its sponsors. I assumed it was yet another sloppy and unserious Section 230 reform proposal from representatives like Rep. Gosar or Gohmert. You can imagine…
Section 230 Protects Securities Exchange–Saveene v. Remo
This case involves an alleged case of corporate hijacking. The plaintiff alleges that it bought a controlling interest in a corporate entity opaquely named American Diversified Holdings Corp. (“ADHC”) from Remo. Remo then allegedly dissolved the Nevada entity and, without…
Eleventh Circuit Rejects “Material Support for Terrorists” Case–Colon v. Twitter
This is one of the many lawsuits against social media services for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. These cases have all failed–with the partial exception of the Ninth Circuit meltdown (3 judges; 3 opinions) in Gonzalez v. Google LLC,…
Trump Has to Litigate His Must-Carry Lawsuit in YouTube’s Home Court–Trump v. YouTube
In July, Trump et al sued Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in Florida for terminating his accounts. At the time, I laid out a 6-step prediction for how things would go: We’ve reached Step 2 in the YouTube case. Based on…
The Legal Implications of Datacenter Location (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble The location of a datacenter matters—the location of third-party datacenters affects companies’ (datacenter customers’) decisions whether to use the datacenters for colocation or other services. Part of any assessment of the suitability of a datacenter…
Does the First Amendment Permit Government Actors to Manage Social Media Comments?–Tanner v. Ziegenhorn
This case involves Tanner’s comments on the Arkansas State Police’s Facebook page. The court’s ruling raises interesting, but troubling, questions about any government actor’s ability to enable reader comments on social media. The Manually Deleted Comment One State Police post…
The SHOP SAFE Act Is a Terrible Bill That Will Eliminate Online Marketplaces
[Note: this blog post covers Rep. Nadler’s manager’s amendment for the SHOP SAFE Act, which I think will be the basis of a committee markup hearing tomorrow. If Congress were well-functioning, draft bills going into markup would be circulated a…