Google and Twitter Defeat Lawsuit Over Account Suspensions/Terminations–DeLima v. Google
Natasha DeLima (a/k/a “Natasha Athens”) claims that Google and Twitter have imposed various sanctions on her accounts, including suspension and termination. She alleges that Google and Twitter took these actions due to political bias against her. (This article notes some…
Politician Can Block Constituents at Twitter–If It’s a “Campaign” Account–Campbell v. Reisch
This is another case challenging an elected official’s blocking of a constituent’s Twitter account on First Amendment grounds. It’s a 2-1 Eighth Circuit ruling that appears to distance itself from the approach of the Second and Fourth Circuits. As Eric…
FOSTA Survives Constitutional Challenge–US v. Martono
This case involves the DOJ’s prosecution of CityXGuide.com, which allegedly tried to pick up the online commercial sex advertising business after Backpage’s shutdown. The DOJ’s initial press release and Techdirt’s coverage of it. A grand jury indicted the site’s principal,…
Planning to Sue Twitter Over an Account Suspension? YOU WILL LOSE–Murphy v. Twitter
Murphy engaged in deadnaming and misgendering in her tweets. Twitter repeatedly disciplined Murphy’s account until it finally permanently suspended the account. Murphy sued Twitter. The lower court ruled for Twitter on Section 230 grounds. The appeals court affirmed. This court…
Mirroring Qualifies for Section 230–Monsarrat v. Newman
This case involves a LiveJournal community (the Davis Square community for Somerville, MA). In 2017, LiveJournal changed its policies. In response, Newman, the community moderator, copied all of the community’s posts and uploaded them to Dreamwidth–an action we used to…
Lawyer Can’t Sue Google for Bad Client Review–Lewis v. Google
Kerry Lewis is a lawyer. A putative client, “Lolo Mosby,” posted a zero-star rating and a negative review of him. I can’t find the review online, and the link in the court opinion no longer works. However, the complaint contains…
Comments on the “Protecting Constitutional Rights from Online Platform Censorship Act”
A tsunami of new Section 230 reform bills is coming soon. The early previews suggest those bills will be just as terrible as the bills from the 116th Congress. This bill comes from Rep. DesJarlais (R-TN), who voted against certifying…
Section 230 Year-in-Review for 2020
Section 230 had such a drama-filled year that I decided to do a separate roundup, in addition to my annual Internet Law wrapup coming soon. (I know 2020 feels like it was a decade ago…) Trigger warning: this post is…
New Op-Ed: People Who Understand Section 230 Actually Love It
[Published in the San Jose Mercury-News, January 10, 2021] Section 230, which says that websites aren’t liable for third-party content, has developed an increasingly bad reputation. In December, Pres. Trump vetoed a critical $740 billion military funding bill because Congress…
More Plaintiffs (and Lawyers) Need To Be Reminded That YouTube Isn’t a State Actor–Divino v. Google
This lawsuit, like many others before it, claims that UGC services like YouTube commit illegal discrimination based on how they moderate content. Despite its lack of novelty, this lawsuit got some media coverage for two reasons: (1) most of the…