A Report from the White House's Inaugural "Creator Economy Conference" (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Franklin Graves This week, I joined 100 other creators and creator economy professionals in attending the first ever White House Creator Economy Conference. The event, which I recapped in more detail for another publication, presented an interesting…

Announcing the 2024 Edition of My Internet Law Casebook

I’m pleased to announce the 2024 edition (15th edition) of my Internet Law casebook, Internet Law: Cases & Materials. The book is available as a PDF at Gumroad for $10, a Kindle ebook for $9.99, a softcover version for $20, and a hardcover version for $28. [All…

Section 230 Helps Substack Defeat a Defamation Claim--Smith v. Substack

This case involves the CancelWatch “blog” on Substack, which says: “We report the activists trying to ruin people’s lives and careers.” In July 2023, it made a post entitled “Oliver D. Smith” that details Smith’s online activities and explains why…

Section 230 Doesn't Preempt Utah's Minor Protection in Social Media Act--NetChoice v. Reyes

Utah passed a terrible law claiming to be “for the kids,” which are increasingly prevalent at the state level. The court summarizes some of the law’s obligations: the Act requires covered websites to “implement an age assurance system,” “limit the…

Ryanair v. Booking CFAA Trial Ends with Strangest Possible Outcome (Guest Blog Post)

Ryanair recently “prevailed” in its CFAA claim in its litigation against Booking.com. I use scare quotes around “prevailed” because, according to the jury verdict, the actual damages suffered by Ryanair were $5,000. $5,000 just so happens to be the exact…

Court Blows Up Gmail's Section 230 Protection, But Allegations of Biased Spam Filtering Still Fail--Republican National Committee v. Google

Prior blog post. If I say so myself, it was a really good post–you should read it first and then read this post. In my prior post, I wrote: “I hope you enjoy these 2,800 words on legal topics you…

Government Agencies Can't Use Dumb Word Filters to Screen Social Media Comments--PETA v. Tabak

PETA promotes its animal rights agenda by making lots of online comments, an advocacy technique that may cross over from being aggressive to being annoying. In this case, they were such a nuisance on NIH’s Facebook and Instagram posts that…

The scenario: Google thought that a user uploaded CSAM and terminated her account. The user disagreed, appealed, and got nowhere. The user took the matter to court (pro se), where the lawsuit failed: Contract Breach. “Plaintiff does not allege any…

Section 230 Preempts FOSTA Claim--Doe v. WebGroup Czech Republic

This is a FOSTA case. It reached the 9th Circuit on personal jurisdiction grounds. The 9th Circuit held that some foreign defendants were subject to jurisdiction. On remand, the court dismisses the remaining defendants primarily due to Section 230, with…

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Moody v. NetChoice Supreme Court Opinion

Normally, when a major Internet Law development occurs, I write two posts. First, I write up a quick hit for the media. See my short statement on the Moody v. NetChoice. decision. I then follow up with a comprehensive blog…