Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is marking up the INFORM Act (I think this is the latest version but who knows). The INFORM Act is like a “know-your-customer” (KYC) law for sellers in online marketplaces. It iterates on…
Last week, the California Senate Judiciary Committee held an informational hearing entitled “State of Social Media Regulation: Misinformation, Exploitation, Harassment, and Radicalization.” I testified about Section 230’s applicability to state regulatory efforts. Spoiler: Section 230 forecloses many of the legislature’s…
The plaintiffs are Adrienne Sepaniak King and Christopher Edward Sepaniak King, a mother-son duo. The family that sues together stays together. Facebook terminated the mom’s account allegedly for violating Facebook’s community standards. Attempts to resurrect it were unsuccessful. The lawsuit…
Yesterday I presented at UC Hastings’ Pound Civil Justice Institute on my forthcoming paper that questions the constitutionality of mandatory disclosure obligations imposed on Internet services. My talk notes: I’m writing about laws that mandate the transparency of editorial activities…
A Better Way Wholesale Autos sells cars “as is.” Some buyers who experienced mechanical problems nevertheless felt hornswoggled, and over 100 of them complained to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The vendor sued BBB because the low ratings were allegedly…
As I mentioned, I’m part of a team organizing a special virtual event called the “Lessons from the First Internet Ages Symposium.” The event starts tomorrow 10am Pacific, and it’s not too late to sign up! The event will explore…
This is the latest dubious Internet Law ruling from the Eighth Circuit. (Other dubious rulings in 2021 include Select Comfort v. Baxter and Campbell v. Reisch). In this ruling, the court says Walmart may have imposed a binding arbitration clause…
This is the latest update in Nicosia’s multi-year lawsuit against Amazon. That lawsuit has already resulted in two Second Circuit opinions (and three blog posts). The district court found Nicosia was bound by the arbitration agreement in Amazon’s terms of…
This is a lawsuit against Nike and its service provider (FullStory), which provides Nike with “session replay” functionality for its website. FullStory’s software allows Nike to capture information regarding website visitors: (1) mouse clicks, (2) keystrokes, (3) payment card information,…
As you recall, in July, Trump sued Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for “deplatforming” him. As expected (see image to the right), YouTube successfully transferred its case to the Northern District of California. Now Twitter has done the same. (A reminder…