Russia Fucked With American Democracy, But It Can’t Fuck With Section 230–Federal Agency of News v. Facebook

…contract; and (5) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.” Facebook defended the Bivens claim on lack of state action and the other claims on Section 230….

Private Publishers Aren’t State Actors–Manhattan Community Access v. Halleck

…been performed by government.” Without a state action hook, the First Amendment doesn’t protect the plaintiffs: “when a private entity provides a forum for speech, the private entity is not…

Your Periodic Reminder That Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Williby v. Zuckerberg

…does not qualify as a state actor subject to First Amendment constraints Cite to Halleck, which I will blog soon. Ideally Halleck will emphatically tidy up the state action issue,…

[Statute of] Queen Anne’s Revenge? Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Allen v. Cooper

…a “taking,” the state action would have to deprive the plaintiff of nearly all of the work’s value (as the North Carolina statute may have done). It seems that the…

A Fight for Authorship and Ownership of 150+ Quilt Patterns, and Bad Business Planning (Guest Blog Post)

…Decker, Hyde Park, Chelsea Market, and Tale of 2 Gnomes. Lone Star Promotions is not a party to the state actions, even though Lone Star Promotions is the copyright claimant….

Recap of the Copyright Office’s Section 512 Study Roundtable

…practices changed? Carey: practices have changed, and ongoing litigation on this front. Isbell: are IAP terminations due to 512 repeat infringer policy “state action”? Rose: no, but it’s equivalent to…

Section 230’s Success in Under-the-Radar Cases

…engaged in viewpoint discrimination. Defendants are all private companies. DeLima has failed to allege any state action giving rise to the alleged violations of her First Amendment rights, and the…

Twitter Isn’t a Shopping Mall for First Amendment Purposes (Duh)–Johnson v. Twitter

…article, The “Sovereigns of Cyberspace” and State Action: The First Amendment’s Application–or Lack Thereof–to Third-Party Platforms, by Jonathan Peters. From the abstract: This Article analyzes the state action doctrine as…

President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump

…retweet or reply in the first instance. Defendants argued that blocking is not state action because it simply utilizes functionality made available to every Twitter user. The court rejects this…

Researchers’ Challenge to CFAA Moves Forward–Sandvig v. Sessions

…government raises a state action question and the court (with little discussion, and a cite to NY Times v. Sullivan and hiQ v. LinkedIn) disagrees. The court also rejects the…