Australian High Court Says Facebook Accountholders “Publish” Third-Party Defamatory Comments–Fairfax Media v. Voller
The High Court of Australia has issued a troubling ruling that says Facebook accountholders potentially could be strictly liable for all defamatory comments to their Facebook posts. That legal standard could devastate social media usage in Australia. It increases the risk…
FOSTA Claim Can Proceed Against Twitter–Doe v. Twitter
The court summarizes the allegations: Plaintiffs John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 allege that when they were thirteen years old they were solicited and recruited for sex trafficking and manipulated into providing to a third-party sex trafficker pornographic videos…
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…