Section 230 Protects Zillow for Publishing Property Information–Choudhuri v. Specialized Loan
This lawsuit relates to a property foreclosure contested by the then-property owner, Choudhuri, who sued pro se. “Choudhuri appears to allege that Zillow ‘illegally’ published information regarding the property at issue on its website, including listing it ‘for auction.’” This…
Atari’s Lawsuit Against a Print-on-Demand Service Fizzles Out–Atari v. Printify
This is an IP enforcement action against a print-on-demand service called Printify. Printify facilitates interactions between merchants who create new items to sell (using storefronts like Etsy, Shopify, or eBay) and third-party printers/manufacturers. Printify doesn’t process consumer purchases for its…
Plaintiffs Tried to Plead Around Section 230. It Didn’t Work–Ziencik v. Snap
I previously summarized this case: This case involves two Snapchat users who repeatedly received threatening messages from other Snapchat users despite the victims’ efforts to block the perpetrators. A victim flagged messages for Snapchat, allegedly to no effect, and law…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Claiming It “Discriminated” Against Muslim & Palestinian Content–Elansari v. Facebook
I previously described this pro se lawsuit: “Elansari is Muslim. In this lawsuit, he claims that Facebook blocks pro-Palestinian publishers and favors pro-Israeli publishers. Thus, he argues, Jewish readers are more likely to get the information they want from Facebook…
2023 Internet Law Year-in-Review
My roundup of the top Internet Law developments of 2023: 10) California court bans targeted advertising (?). Regulators have sought to suppress online targeted advertising for years, with only minimal success. Then, in Liapes v. Facebook, a California appeals court…
Ninth Circuit Confusion About Moderators and Section 230–Quinteros v. Innogames
I previously blogged this case in 2022. I summarized: This lawsuit involves the freemium videogame “Forge of Empires.” The plaintiff, Penny Quinteros (a/k/a TwoCents), claims she became addicted to the game. She played the game virtually every day from 2016-19–over…
Judge Goes Rogue and Rejects Snap’s Section 230 Defense for [Reasons]–Neville v. Snap
The plaintiffs are parents of Snapchat users who purchased fentanyl from other Snapchat users and suffered overdoses. They sued Snapchat for a wide ranges of tort claims. To get around the clear Section 230 barrier to those claims, the plaintiffs…
Grindr Defeats FOSTA Claim–Doe v. Grindr
This case (like many I’m covering nowadays) involves heartbreaking facts, but from a legal standpoint, it was never meritorious. Doe created a Grindr account at age 15 (Doe claimed he was 18). He matched with 4 men. “Doe met each…
2023 Quick Links: Section 230
[My Quick Links publication process is broken. Once-a-year postings aren’t very useful LOL.] * Palmer v. Savoy, 2021 N.C. Super. LEXIS 236 (N.C. Superior Ct. July 28, 2021). Snap qualified for Section 230 protection despite the plaintiffs’ invocation of the Lemmon design…
Many Fifth Circuit Judges Hope to Eviscerate Section 230–Doe v. Snap
I previously covered the district court ruling in this case. I summarized: A high school teacher allegedly used Snapchat to groom a sophomore student for a sexual relationship. (Atypically, the teacher was female and the victim was male, but the…