New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking

New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will markup the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (abbreviated to “FOSTA”). It appears a new substitute version of FOSTA will be marked up, not the bill as introduced. This makes a total of…

Fourth Judge Says Social Media Sites Aren’t Liable for Supporting Terrorists–Pennie v. Twitter

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] This is one of the multitudinous 1-800-LAW-FIRM lawsuits against social media services for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. It has filed at least two new cases…

Social Networking Site Isn’t Liable for User’s Overdose of Drugs He Bought Via the Site–Dyroff v. Ultimate Software

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] This opinion is a contender for the most interesting Section 230 ruling of 2017. It deals with the troubling situation of user-to-user online drug sales; it…

‘Blacklist’ of ModelMayhem Members Defeats Legal Liability–Brenner v. Hill

ModelMayhem facilitates matches between models and employers, such as photographers. We’ve blogged before about the risk that putative ModelMayhem employers are sexual predators, which led to a key 9th Circuit ruling that Section 230 doesn’t immunize “failure to warn” claims. I’m amazed ModelMayhem has survived despite…

Woman Fired For Pro-Trump Tweet Gets Unemployment Benefits--Waverly Heights v. Jungclaus

Woman Fired For Pro-Trump Tweet Gets Unemployment Benefits–Waverly Heights v. Jungclaus

I just blogged on a case involving Facebook’s suspension of a Bowling Green Massacre gaslighter. Today, I’m blogging about a woman fired for a pro-Trump tweet. It’s pretty clear my blogging queue will be overflowing with Trump-related litigation for years to come. #MALGA…

Commemorating the 20 Year Anniversary of Zeran v. AOL

Commemorating the 20 Year Anniversary of Zeran v. AOL

You’re probably already quite familiar with the Fourth Circuit’s 1997 in Zeran v. AOL. The case is one of the most cited Internet Law cases of all time, and it is a staple of Internet Law course syllabi around the country and…

Facebook Defeats Lawsuit By User Suspended Over 'Bowling Green Massacre'--Shulman v. Facebook

Facebook Defeats Lawsuit By User Suspended Over ‘Bowling Green Massacre’–Shulman v. Facebook

This lawsuit is detritus from the KellyAnne Conway “Bowling Green Massacre” fiasco. You may recall that Conway, in her official White House role, referred to a “massacre” at Bowling Green that never happened. The plaintiff says he posted articles to Facebook allegedly…

Repeated Unwanted Emails to Politician's Personal Email Address Can be Harassment--Hagedorn v. Cattani

Repeated Unwanted Emails to Politician’s Personal Email Address Can be Harassment–Hagedorn v. Cattani

This is a First Amendment retaliation case. Plaintiff alleges that local officials retaliated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights. One of the defendants is mayor of the small village where plaintiff resided (Timberlake, “a small village of six-…

YouTube Defeats Defamation Claim in 'Remove-and-Relocate' Case--Bartholomew v. YouTube

YouTube Defeats Defamation Claim in ‘Remove-and-Relocate’ Case–Bartholomew v. YouTube

YouTube has been sued numerous times for “removing-and-relocating” videos it thinks were promoted by spam. When it does a remove-and-relocate, YouTube takes down the video, discloses at the original URL that “This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube’s…

How SESTA Undermines Section 230's Good Samaritan Provisions

How SESTA Undermines Section 230’s Good Samaritan Provisions

The following is my response to Questions for the Record submitted by Sen. Cortez Masto. Given that she has already co-sponsored SESTA following the Manager’s Amendment and IA’s flip, my response may be too late to matter (not that it would…