Once Again, Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Account Suspension Decisions–Brittain v. Twitter
This is another easy defense win in a pro se case, and yet another lawsuit indirectly involving Trump and his supporters. Twitter suspended four accounts run by Craig Brittain of IsAnybodyDown? “revenge” porn infamy. Brittain sued. My prior blog post…
D.C. Circuit Issues Sweeping Pro-Section 230 Opinion–Marshall’s Locksmith v. Google
The DC Circuit has produced some defense-favorable Section 230 rulings, including Klayman v. Zuckerberg and Bennett v. Google. This opinion may be the most favorable yet. The plaintiffs are self-styled “legitimate” locksmiths who claim that Google gives too much prominence…
Contract Breach Claims Against Google Survive First Amendment Defense–Dreamstime v. Google
Dreamstime sells stock photos. It alleges that Google partnered with its competitors and then maliciously downgraded Dreamstime’s visibility, first in organic search results and then in keyword ads. Google allegedly also kicked Dreamstime’s app out of Google Play. Dreamstime sued…
“IAPP Content Moderation in 2019” Conference Recap
In May, the IAPP held a conference in DC called “Content Moderation in 2019.” Though the conference was not officially part of the COMO conference series, it was a logical extension of the series. The IAPP’s event page. My photo…
Section 230 Doesn’t End Lawsuit Claiming Facebook Facilitated Sex Trafficking–Doe v. Facebook
As you may recall, Facebook embraced SESTA/FOSTA during the legislative proceedings. First, following advice from its political advisor Definers, Facebook decided SESTA was less important than the myriad of other political initiatives targeting it. As a result, Facebook caused the…
HuffPost Gets 512(c) Defense for Contributor-Uploaded Photo–Downs v. Oath
A Huffington Post contributor, Kim, uploaded a post with a photo. The day after Kim posted, HuffPost’s editor, Cohn, reviewed the post for offensive or unlawful content, added content tags, and linked to a related video; but Cohn didn’t modify…
Section 230 Helps Facebook Easily Defeat Claims Over a User’s Post–Richard v. Facebook
A former employee, Malepeai, posted negative remarks on Facebook about his past employer and his family. The past employer sued Facebook for defamation, civil conspiracy, outrage, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. This direct assault on Facebook for third party…
Amazon Isn’t Liable for Defective Marketplace Sale (No Thanks to Section 230)–Erie Insurance v. Amazon
A buyer purchased an LED headlamp in Amazon’s marketplace from a third party merchant (“Dream Light”) and gave it as a gift. The batteries allegedly malfunctioned and caused a fire in the gift-receiver’s house. The home insurer paid $313k+ for…
Section 230 Protects Tor Project from Liability for Tragic Drug Overdose–Seaver v. Estate of Cazes
This case involves the tragic death of a 13 year old boy from ingesting an illegal opioid (U-47700) he bought via the dark web. Allegedly, the boy used a Tor browser to find and purchase the drug. Among other defendants,…
A Recap of My Recent Section 230 Papers
I’ve been actively writing about Section 230 recently, so I thought it might help to round them up into a single post: * An Overview of the United States’ Section 230 Internet Immunity (2019). This is the basic primer you’ve always wanted….