A Review of the NYT v. Microsoft AI-Copyright Ruling (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy New York Times Co. v. Microsoft Corp., 2025 WL 1009179 (S.D.N.Y. April 4, 2025), might be the most important case pending on the legality of scraping public data to create training data sets to build…
A Takedown of the Take It Down Act
By guest blogger Prof. Jess Miers (with additional comments from Eric) Two things can be true: Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) is a serious and gendered harm. And, the ‘Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and…
Amazon Isn’t Liable for Merchant’s Display of Bogus Contact Info–Hillman v. Amazon
Hillman says that an Amazon merchant, Cozy Castle Furniture, mistakenly displayed Hillman’s contact information on its page as if it were the merchant’s contact info. As a result, Hillman says she got hundreds of complaints per day about the furniture…
What is a “Social Media Platform”?–NetChoice v. Uthmeier
This is the post-SCOTUS remand of Moody v. NetChoice. To dispose of various motions, the court must construe the statutory term “social media platform.” Florida’s statutory definition: “Social media platform” means any information service, system, Internet search engine, or access…
A Roundup of Recent Section 230 Decisions Involving Sex Abuse or CSAM
Another lengthy blog post rounding up cases from the past few months involving CSAM or commercial sex and Section 230/FOSTA. Doe #1 v. MG Freesites, Ltd., 2025 WL 1314179 (N.D. Ala. May 6, 2025) Prior blog posts (1, 2). Previously…
Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Online Review of a Chicago Dater–D’Ambrosio v. Rajala
The plaintiff in this case is Nikko D’Ambrosio. He recently served time in prison for tax issues. Separately, he brought a lawsuit over the “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook group, run by Spill the Tea, “where women can…
YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Over Account Suspension–Hall v. YouTube
The court summarizes the facts: In April 2024, Hall became involved in a public feud with another YouTube user, “MoneyBoy Tr3y,” (Tr3y”) which led to the exchange of multiple DMCA takedown notices between the two. Hall alleges that Tr3y submitted…
Addiction Lawsuit Against Character AI Can Proceed–Garcia v. Character Technologies
Online addiction lawsuits are proliferating across the country, a trend that will continue so long as plaintiffs think they can win. This decision largely rejects the defendants’ motion to dismiss, which will induce more plaintiff lawyers to bring more cases….
Section 230 and the First Amendment Curtail An Online Videogame Addiction Lawsuit–Angelilli v. Activision
The court summarizes the plaintiffs’ allegations: D.G. began playing video games when he was six years old and at some point became addicted. Plaintiffs further allege that D.G.’s gaming has resulted in serious harm, including emotional distress, lost friends, and…
TikTok Defeats Lawsuit Over User’s Suicide–Nasca v. Bytedance
The court summarizes: The plaintiffs commenced this action in connection with the death by suicide of 16 year old Chase Nasca on February 18, 2022 after he walked in front of a train. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges twelve causes of action…