Court Blows Up Gmail’s Section 230 Protection, But Allegations of Biased Spam Filtering Still Fail–Republican National Committee v. Google
Prior blog post. If I say so myself, it was a really good post–you should read it first and then read this post. In my prior post, I wrote: “I hope you enjoy these 2,800 words on legal topics you…
Government Agencies Can’t Use Dumb Word Filters to Screen Social Media Comments–PETA v. Tabak
PETA promotes its animal rights agenda by making lots of online comments, an advocacy technique that may cross over from being aggressive to being annoying. In this case, they were such a nuisance on NIH’s Facebook and Instagram posts that…
Google Can Terminate Account Based on CSAM Allegations–Baker v. Google
The scenario: Google thought that a user uploaded CSAM and terminated her account. The user disagreed, appealed, and got nowhere. The user took the matter to court (pro se), where the lawsuit failed: Contract Breach. “Plaintiff does not allege any…
Section 230 Preempts FOSTA Claim–Doe v. WebGroup Czech Republic
This is a FOSTA case. It reached the 9th Circuit on personal jurisdiction grounds. The 9th Circuit held that some foreign defendants were subject to jurisdiction. On remand, the court dismisses the remaining defendants primarily due to Section 230, with…
Everything You Wanted to Know About the Moody v. NetChoice Supreme Court Opinion
Normally, when a major Internet Law development occurs, I write two posts. First, I write up a quick hit for the media. See my short statement on the Moody v. NetChoice. decision. I then follow up with a comprehensive blog…
Competitor Isn’t Responsible for Google Knowledge Panel’s Contents–International Star Registry v. RGIFTS
This lawsuit involves competitors in the “star registry” niche 🙄. The incumbent is the International Star Registry of Illinois. The challenger is RGIFTS. The incumbent doesn’t like the competition and is clinging to its very descriptive trademarks to try to…
Section 230 Preempts Two More Harassment Lawsuits
Recapping a couple of doomed-from-inception lawsuits. Benedict v. Google LLC, 2024 WL 3427161 (D. Ariz. July 16, 2024) Lance Benedict is a musician. Someone attacked him on the heavy metal website “All That Shreds” (apparently gone now), posting allegedly doctored…
What Happened to Gonzalez v. Google After the SCOTUS Decision?
In the mid-2010s, plaintiffs filed about 20 lawsuits filed around the country seeking to hold social media services liable for allegedly facilitating terrorist attacks. Two of those cases, Gonzalez v. Google and Taamneh v. Twitter, produced Supreme Court rulings last…
Facebook Isn’t Subject to the ADA–Lloyd v. Facebook
Lloyd brought a pro se lawsuit against Facebook raising a myriad of concerns. My prior blog post. The Ninth Circuit easily dismisses most of it in a breezy memorandum opinion, but the contract claim gets revived for a little longer….
What Should Happen When a Schoolteacher Posts Hateful Memes to TikTok?–MacRae v. Mattos
Kari MacRae is a grandmother to four grandkids and a Republican candidate for Massachusetts state senate. During the relevant time period, she was a public school teacher. She maintained a TikTok account at the alias “NanaMacof4.” (Nana is a synonym…