As Expected, Malwarebytes Defeats Enigma’s Lawsuit Without Section 230’s Help
Malwarebytes and Enigma offer competitive anti-threat software. Malwarebytes classified Enigma’s software as a “potentially unwanted program,” or PUP, and quarantined the programs. Enigma sued Malwarebytes for that classification/quarantine. Initially, the district court dismissed the case on Section 230(c)(2)(B) grounds. In…
Court Casts Doubt on the Legality of the Data Brokerage Industry–Brooks v. Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters (TR) offers a database called “CLEAR” that assembles personal information into individual dossiers. The plaintiffs are Black civil rights activists leading a class action lawsuit for publicity rights and related claims. The court denies TR’s motion to dismiss–in…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Discriminatory Housing Ads–Vargas v. Facebook
This lawsuit alleges that Facebook is liable for Fair Housing Act discrimination purportedly enabled by its self-service advertising tools. The court grants Facebook’s motion to dismiss the Third Amended Complaint. I believe this case is now ready for a Ninth…
Court Nopes Another Lawsuit Over Facebook Suspensions–Orders v. Facebook
Plaintiff Frank Orders “posted a picture of Hunter Biden with two prostitutes on his Facebook page. The black-and-white picture attached to the Complaint shows a male lying naked on a bed with two naked females sitting on top of the…
Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Yearbook Website’s Ads–Knapke v. Classmates
Classmates offers paywalled access to yearbook info. Classmates allows free searches, and the “search results provide a free preview of the services and products with a photo and name of an individual to entice the user to purchase Classmates’ services…
Interview About Section 230 and COVID Misinformation
[I did another interview with Mathew Ingram at Galley by CJR] Ingram: Eric, thanks very much for doing this. I know we’ve discussed Section 230 before on Galley, so I don’t want to go over old ground, but is there…
Second Circuit Rejects an Account Termination Lawsuit…Again (Phew!)–Domen v. Vimeo
Domen posted videos advocating for sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). Vimeo terminated his account. Domen sued Vimeo for the termination, alleging that it discriminated against him. The district court dismissed Domen’s complaint. The Second Circuit affirmed, in a precedent-setting opinion…
New Essay: “Five Things to Know About Section 230”
At the request of Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a Canadian think-tank, I wrote a short essay called “Five Things to Know About Section 230.” It’s a brief-and-breezy overview of Section 230 to get Canadian readers up-to-speed on our…
Comments on Trump’s Lawsuits Against YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter
When Trump signed his anti-230 EO in May 2020, I was immediately overwhelmed with media calls all asking the same basic question: this is garbage, right? We now have the final answer to that question. As I and others predicted…
Facebook Isn’t Liable for a Commercial Sex Relationship Gone Wrong–A.B. v. Facebook
The court summarizes the plaintiff’s contentions (note: “Lund” and “Sex Worker” are the same person): the Complaint alleges Lund “contacted” Plaintiff and provided him with “sexually provocative pictures, offer[ed] sex, description of sex acts, and other sexually provocative statements” to…