A Roundup of Recent Section 230 Decisions Involving Sex Abuse or CSAM
Another lengthy blog post rounding up cases from the past few months involving CSAM or commercial sex and Section 230/FOSTA. Doe #1 v. MG Freesites, Ltd., 2025 WL 1314179 (N.D….
Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Online Review of a Chicago Dater–D’Ambrosio v. Rajala
The plaintiff in this case is Nikko D’Ambrosio. He recently served time in prison for tax issues. Separately, he brought a lawsuit over the “Are We Dating the Same Guy?”…
YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Over Account Suspension–Hall v. YouTube
The court summarizes the facts: In April 2024, Hall became involved in a public feud with another YouTube user, “MoneyBoy Tr3y,” (Tr3y”) which led to the exchange of multiple DMCA…
Addiction Lawsuit Against Character AI Can Proceed–Garcia v. Character Technologies
Online addiction lawsuits are proliferating across the country, a trend that will continue so long as plaintiffs think they can win. This decision largely rejects the defendants’ motion to dismiss,…
Photos in a Similar Style Aren’t Copyright-Infringing–Woodland v. Lil Nas X
…differ.” “The only similarity between Woodland’s work titled “To the Moon” and Hill’s photo is the depiction of a man in an atmospheric setting with his head angled away from…
Video Game Addiction Case Mostly Sent to Arbitration–Orellana v. Roblox (Catch-up Post)
[Introductory note: This case appeared in my alerts recently. It is one of the many video game addiction lawsuits percolating throughout the courts nationwide. I don’t have a census of…
Court Upholds a Browsewrap (Because It Was Really a Sign-in-Wrap)–Hoar v. Hotmart
This case involves the Hotmart service, an online marketplace of digital items. The plaintiffs claim they didn’t receive their purchased items and were charged for other unwanted services. Hotmart invoked…
School Board Official Censored Constituent by Blocking Access to Their Social Media Account–Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliff
This case involves two PUSD school board members, O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane, who “used their public Facebook and Twitter pages to post about goings-on at PUSD and their activities as Trustees.”…
Amazon Merchant Takedown Notice Attack Spills Over to Court–GM Photo v. Focus Camera
[Note: lawsuits over takedown notice attacks occur occasionally. I’m blogging this case as an exemplar, not because it’s unique.] This case involves two Amazon marketplace merchants, GM Photo (operating as…
Price Lists Aren’t Copyrightable–Rapaport v. Nivoda
This case involves diamond prices. The plaintiff Rapaport publishes a weekly subscription-only price list of diamonds based on various attributes. This publication serves as an industry benchmark. The defendant Nivoda…