Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against Airbnb Has the Potential to Change Online Marketplaces–Harrington v. Airbnb
Airbnb has admitted that some of its vendors have engaged in racial discrimination. It really had no choice in this admission, after both empirical and anecdotal evidence demonstrated it. Plaintiffs sued Airbnb for violating Oregon’s discrimination law. The magistrate judge…
Seventh Different Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Material Support to Terrorists” Fails–Taamneh v. Twitter
By my count, this is the seventh different lawsuit concluding that social media providers are not liable for materially supporting terrorists (Cain, Crosby, Fields, Force/Cohen, Gonzalez, Pennie, Taamneh). [If I’m missing any, please let me know.] This is an impressive…
Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Decision to Suspend User’s Account–Mezey v. Twitter
This decision is from July but just showed up in Westlaw. Mezey sued Twitter for suspending his account. The opinion doesn’t provide any background about the account or why Twitter suspended it. The court easily dismissed the lawsuit on Section…
Section 230 Applies to Defend Trade Secret Act Claims–Craft Beer Stellar v. Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a consumer review site for employees reviewing employers. The plaintiff in this case is a franchisor. Purported employees of a franchisee posted six negative reviews about the franchisee on Glassdoor. The reviews mentioned the francishor’s CEO, Suzanne Schalow,…
FOSTA Doesn’t Help Pro Se Litigant’s Defamation Claim Against Facebook
This is a typical pro se defamation lawsuit against Facebook. The plaintiff claims that other Facebook users defamed him in a Facebook group. The court treats this as an easy Section 230 case. The court applies the standard three-part test…
Constitutional Challenge to FOSTA Dismissed for Lack of Standing (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alex F. Levy On September 24, 2018, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia dismissed a case challenging the constitutionality of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). FOSTA, which…
Blogger Defeats Defamation Claims Over Posts Claiming a “Scam”–RainSoft v. MacFarland
Brian MacFarland runs a blog, lazymanandmoney.com. For his own home, he held an in-home demonstration of a RainSoft water softener system by Oster, a salesperson at a local distributor, Basement Technologies. (I’m not sure about that brand!). MacFarland was skeptical…
Good News! USMCA (a/k/a NAFTA 2.0) Embraces Section 230-Like Internet Immunity
There’s a lot to digest in the USMCA, the NAFTA 2.0 replacement that shall not be called NAFTA. This post focuses on one piece: USMCA Article 19.17 requires its signatories to adopt Internet immunity provisions similar to Section 230. (I…
Another Social Media “Material Support to Terrorists” Lawsuit Fails–Cain v. Twitter
This is one of the many cases against social media platforms alleging that they provided “material support” to terrorists. As a group, these lawsuits have gone nowhere, and this one doesn’t either. ATA Direct Liability. As with other cases, the…
Twitter Isn’t Liable for Impersonation Account–Dehen v. Doe
Tiffany Dehen is a 2016 alumna of University of San Diego’s law school. Her website declares that she is “a true American and Patriotic Trump Supporter,” and her photo album includes a photo of her smiling with Dinesh D’Souza. She claims…