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…
For the Third Time, a Second Circuit Panel Dismisses an Online Account Termination Case–Domen v. Vimeo
A 3-judge panel has issued its third opinion in Domen v. Vimeo, a lawsuit alleging that Vimeo committed unlawful discrimination by terminating his account. How does an appellate panel reach a third opinion in the same case? It issued its…
Law Enforcement’s Efforts to Scrub COVID “Misinformation” Online Violated the First Amendment–Cohoon v. Konrath
Amyiah Cohoon is a high schooler in central Wisconsin. In March 2020, she contracted a respiratory illness. A COVID test came back negative, but the doctor told her it may be a false negative and told her to quarantine. She…
Texas Enacts Social Media Censorship Law to Benefit Anti-Vaxxers & Spammers
State legislatures are competing with each other to see who can enact the most ill-advised laws to impose censorship on the Internet. Florida made a splash enacting its social media censorship bill SB 7072, only to have a federal district…
Florida and Its Amici Try to Justify Government Censorship in the 11th Circuit–NetChoice v. Moody
Earlier this year, Florida enacted a wide-ranging, complex, poorly drafted, and enthusiastically censorial law, SB7072. Among other problems, the law dictates how “social media platforms” can make their editorial decisions. Fortunately, a Florida federal judge blocked Florida’s social media censorship…
To No One’s Surprise, FOSTA Is Confounding Judges–J.B. v. G6
Plaintiffs underutilitized FOSTA’s new Section 230 exclusions for the first two years after the law’s enactment, but now we are getting FOSTA rulings at a rapid clip. Given FOSTA’s terrible drafting, it’s not surprising that the rulings are not agreeing…
The ADA Doesn’t Apply to Online Newspaper Website (Again)–Winegard v. Newsday
The plaintiff is deaf. He is a serial litigant (“By this Court’s count, Mr. Winegard had filed at least forty-four ADA lawsuits in this district alone as of August 16, 2021”). He says that he can’t watch video on the…