This is a rape case. Law enforcement found the following items on the defendant’s phone (warning–explicit and offensive descriptions): three photos with accompanying text, which the State argued expressed “the idea that a male has a right to have sexual…

Section 230 Protects a User Sharing an Allegedly Defamatory Facebook Event--AH v. Labana

This case involves St. Francis High School, a Catholic high school in Mountain View located just a few steps away from my home. In the wake of George Floyd’s death during the early pandemic days, racial tensions were high and…

Got a Selfie With a Celebrity? Think Twice Before Using It In Ads--50 Cent v. Kogan

This is yet another blog post about 50 Cent a/k/a Curtis Jackson. This time, he “happened to be in the proximity” of the defendant’s cosmetic surgery clinic. Doing what, exactly? The opinion doesn’t say. While he was fortuitously in the…

Likee is a TikTok-like app that allows users to publish short videos, often set to music. Without sending DMCA takedown notices, BMG sued it for direct and contributory copyright infringement. The court dismisses those claims. Direct Infringement. The court says…

Constituent Blocking on Twitter Is Censorship--Felts v. Vollmer

It’s a simple question: can a government official block a constituent on social media? Based on the Knight First Amendment v. Trump ruling in the Second Circuit, it looked like the answer was a decisive no. Instead, since then, the…

Messaging App Isn't Liable for an Offline Murder (Even Without Section 230)--Roland v. Letgo

This is a tragic case involving the marketplace app Letgo. Using an alias, Brown listed a stolen car for sale on the app. The Rolands agreed to meet Brown in person to buy the car. At the meeting, Brown tried…

I previously summarized this case: Dreamstime sells stock photos. It had favorable organic indexing that made it some money, and it bought Adwords advertising that made it more money. Dreamstime was a big enough player that it got personal support…

by Kieran McCarthy [Eric’s note: this is the second of a two-part series on the denouement of the hiQ v. LnkedIn case, which ended this week with a total loss for hiQ. The prior part explained the most recent ruling,…

Prager's Lawsuit Over Biased Content Moderation Decisively Fails Again (This Time, in State Court)--Prager v. YouTube

Adam Kovacevich has defined the “Prager Effect” as “suing Big Tech to make your MAGA censorship allegation, resulting in Courts significantly strengthening platforms’ legal rights to moderate.” Prager, which makes misleading videos that appear designed to radicalize kids to the…

by Kieran McCarthy [Eric’s note: this is the first of a two-part series on the denouement of the hiQ v. LinkedIn case. This part explains the most recent ruling, a devastating but not unexpected loss for hiQ. The next part…