Jawboning Defendants Are 6-for-6 in the Ninth Circuit--Hart v. Facebook

This is a routine jawboning case. Facebook and Twitter allegedly shut down Hart’s accounts for disseminating COVID misinformation. Hart claims he was targeted by the government. The district court dismissed the case (1, 2). The Ninth Circuit affirms in a…

Section 230 Applies to Tweeted Links to Defamatory Content--Coomer v. Donald J. Trump for President

This is another election integrity case. The plaintiff, Eric Coomer, worked for Dominion Voting. A conspiracy theory alleged that he planned to throw the 2020 presidential election against Trump. He sued various conspiracy theory traffickers for defamation. You would recognize…

Brinan Weeks claims to be a comedian. I strongly suspect this lawsuit is an extension of his routine or that he’s using it to generate new material. He claims: he purchased a device called a Stamina Training Unit (STU) from…

This is another case asserting that Internet access providers are liable for their subscribers’ copyright infringements. The IAP, Frontier, argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Taamneh modified the venerable standards for secondary copyright infringement. The court doesn’t agree. The…

After a multi-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Internet Law Works-in-Progress conference is returning! (Some background about the series). The conference provides a venue for authors of Internet Law papers (broadly conceived) to workshop their drafts and get pre-publication…

Section 230 Preempts Clean Air Act Lawsuit Over “Defeat Device” Apps—U.S. v. EZ Lynk

This case involves “defeat devices.” When installed on a car, they suppress or bypass emission controls designed to protect the environment. It’s terrible that anyone uses defeat devices because we urgently must do more, not less, to prevent climate change….

Roblox Must Defend Illegal Gambling Claims--Colvin v. Roblox

[A reminder that I don’t do April Fools’ pranks.] The court summarizes the allegations: Roblox has a virtual currency designed for use on its platform called “Robux.” Users can buy Robux and exchange them on the platform for in-game experiences….

Haocheng ran several monetized channels on YouTube. He claims that the Chinese Communist Party submitted takedown demands targeting his content, which YouTube ultimately honored. He sued YouTube claiming that the content removals breached YouTube’s contract. YouTube easily wins. The plaintiff…

TOS Formation Isn't Hard to Do Right...Is It?--Tejon v. Zeus

Zeus Networks is a paywalled video site of “influencer”-produced content. 🙄 The plaintiffs allege that Zeus violated the VPPA. 🙄🙄 Zeus tries to direct the lawsuit to arbitration per its TOS, but the court says its TOS failed. Here’s the…

Ninth Circuit Does More Ninth Circuit Things in its Latest Section 230 Ruling--Diep v. Apple

Yet another cryptocurrency fraud case. 🙄 I previously described this case: This lawsuit relates to the “Toast Plus” app that was available in Apple’s app store. The plaintiffs claim it was a spoof app designed to steal cryptocurrency worth $5k…