Roundup of Recent Section 230 Developments

Sometimes the Section 230 developments come faster than I can blog ’em, so they pile up in my queue. This post cleans the queue. * * * A.M. v. Omegle.com, LLC, 2023 WL 1470269 (D. Ore. Feb. 2, 2023). A…

The Internet Survives SCOTUS Review (This Time)--Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google

Today was the 2023 Super Bowl of Internet Law at the U.S. Supreme Court [FN]. SCOTUS issued two eagerly awaited decisions in the Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google cases (as well as decisions in the Warhol copyright fair…

Two Common but Disingenuous Phrases About Section 230

[I initially planned to write up this analysis as a short academic essay. If you’re interested in working with me to adapt this blog post into an academic essay format, email me.] This blog post is about the following two…

"Twitter Files" Don't Help Revive Jawboning Case--Hart v. Facebook

I previously described this lawsuit: Both Facebook and Twitter restricted Hart’s account access due to various posts over COVID, masking, and other culture war issues. Hart sued them for violating the First Amendment. You can guess how that went. Hart…

More on Law Firms and Competitive Keyword Ads--Nicolet Law v. Bye, Goff

This is another lawsuit between personal injury law firms over competitive keyword ads. The plaintiff is Nicolet Law, based in Hudson, Wisconsin with 14 offices in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The defendant is the Bye, Goff firm, based in River Falls,…

Section 230 Immunizes Bing's Search Results--White v. Microsoft

This lawsuit relates to an episode of the TV show Evil Lives Here called “I Invited Him In,” which discusses an NY serial killer named Nathaniel White. A different Nathaniel White claimed that the episode improperly featured his mugshot and…

Twitter Account Suspension Lawsuits Keep Failing--Hall v. Twitter

This case involves a Twitter account held by Daniel Hall, who also used the aliases “Senza Vergogna” and “Sensa Verogna.” [Note: I believe those aliases reference an Italian movie about a son who engages in incest with his mom.] Hall…

Privacy Law Is Devouring Internet Law (and Other Doctrines)...To Everyone's Detriment

What does “privacy” mean? It’s a simple question that lacks a single answer, even from privacy experts. Without a universally shared definition of privacy, scholars have instead attempted to “define” privacy by taxonomizing problems that they think should fit under…

Another Jawboning Case Fails in the Ninth Circuit--Kennedy v. Warren

This case involves a book called “The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal,” which includes a foreword from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sen. Warren wrote a letter to Amazon expressing “concerns” about…

DMCA 512(c) Safe Harbor Doesn't Apply to Photo Embedding--Great Bowery v. Best Little Sites

This case involves Annie Leibovitz photos, represented by licensing and enforcement agency Trunk Archive. Allegedly, users of comicbookmovie.com (CBM) embedded the Leibovitz photos into the site by linking to the images hosted on third-party sites. Once CBM learned of the…