Craigslist Sex Sting Prosecution Rejected as “Outrageous Misconduct”–Washington v. Solomon
This case’s setup resembles dozens or hundreds of similar cases I’ve read. In 2014, a law enforcement officer (in this case, Skagit County Sheriff’s detective Theresa Luvera) posted a sex solicitation on Craigslist’s casual encounters. As we’ve discussed before, Craigslist’s…
President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump
This is a lawsuit brought by Twitter users and the Knight Foundation against President Trump (and his social media strategist and press secretary). The lawsuit alleges that the President violates plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by blocking them on Twitter. The…
Illinois Users’ Face-Scanning Privacy Lawsuit Against Facebook Headed to Trial
This is a class action asserting that Facebook’s face recognition and scanning practices violate the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act rights of Illinois users. The court previously rejected Facebook’s arguments based on choice of law and standing, and certified a class….
YouTube Defeats Another Remove-and-Relocate Lawsuit–Song Fi v. Google
The YouTube “remove-and-relocate” cases involve similar facts. A YouTuber uploaded a video and promoted it. YouTube suspected irregularities with the promotion, removed the video from its initial URL (breaking inbound links, stripping the comments, and resetting the like and view…
“Nerd’s Version of a Fist Fight” Doesn’t Support Injunction Against Blogger–Santilli v. Van Erp
Santilli claims to have developed a telescope that can detect antimatter. Van Erp is dubious about that claim. Van Erp ran a blog that included posts like “The Continuing Stupidity of Ruggero Santilli” and “More Santilli Shenanigans.” The court says:…
First Amendment Doesn’t Protect Encouraging Readers to Make Anti-Semitic Attacks–Gersh v. Daily Stormer
Gersh, the plaintiff, is a realtor living in Whitefish, Montana. She heard about a planned protest of businesses housed in a building owned by Sherry Spencer, the mother of Richard Spencer. (Richard, among other things, went viral for getting punched…
Section 230 Doesn’t Provide a Basis To Remove Cases to Federal Court–A.R.K. v. Grindr
The court summarizes this case: Plaintiff alleges that Grindr and the individual defendants engaged in a conspiracy to produce and disseminate sexually explicit photographs and pornography, with Grindr providing the platform for anonymous meetings, communication, and dissemination. Section 230 may…
Recapping a Year’s Worth of Section 230 Cases That Got Stuck in My Blogging Queue
[Though most of these rulings are defense-favorable, Congress recently eviscerated Section 230 and isn’t done ruining its greatest online policy masterpiece] Twitter Defeats Defamation Claim As part of a custody dispute, a former spouse allegedly disparaged the other spouse in…
Wisconsin Appeals Court Blows Open Big Holes in Section 230–Daniel v. Armslist
Congress eviscerated Section 230 via the Worst of Both World FOSTA, but defendants have been doing well with Section 230 defenses over the past year-plus. Then, last week, a Wisconsin appeals court issued a published opinion that massively screws up…
More Aftermath from the ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’
In my prior post on the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA, I enumerated three problematic developments that occurred before the bill was signed: * the federal government shut down Backpage without relying on FOSTA’s new provisions. * two different civil…