Fourth Circuit’s 230 Meltdown Gives Plaintiffs False Hope–Divino v. Google
Last year, in Henderson v. Source for Public Data, the Fourth Circuit issued a MAGAlicious Section 230 opinion that seemingly trashed 25 years of Fourth Circuit precedent. It was immediately…
“Stop the Steal” Rally Attendee’s Defamation Claim Fails–Chad Burmeister v. Saldich
Chad Burmeister (no Chad jokes, please…no Karen jokes, either) attended the DC “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021. One of his LinkedIn contacts noisily dropped him as a…
Section 230 Protects Services That Permit Anonymous Third-Party Posts–Bride v. Snap
This case involves two “anonymous messaging” apps, Yolo and LMK. Both allegedly target teens audiences. “Plaintiffs allege they received harassing messages in response to their benign posts on Defendants’ applications…
My Amicus Brief in Gonzalez v. Google
Internet Law is in play at the U.S. Supreme Court, as they will likely hear at least four cases this term. (A possible fifth is the 303 Creative case). The…
Man Convicted for Asking for CSAM on Mom Blogs–US v. Moran
Moran made several comments on generally-wholesome “mom blogs” asking moms to have their daughters create CSAM to his specifications. Among other crimes, he was prosecuted for attempted CSAM production. His…
What Consequences for High School Freshmen’s Racist Online Petition?–Plaintiff A v. Park Hill School District
Yet another case involving high school students being disciplined for doing stupid things online. Ugh. This case involves high school freshmen at a Missouri public school. In September 2021, while…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Account Suspension for a Voting Misinformation “Joke”–Hall v. Meta
James A. (Jim) Hall was a candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives. Right before the November 2022 election, Facebook temporarily suspended his account, cutting off his access to 2.5k…
2H 2022 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship & More)
Censorship * Wired: China Is Tightening Its Grip on Big Tech * NY Times: ‘An Invisible Cage’: How China Is Policing the Future * NY Times: How Russian Trolls Helped…
Twitter Defeats Account Suspension Lawsuit Again–Al-Ahmed v. Twitter
I previously described the case: This case involves the tragic situation where two Twitter employees allegedly became operatives for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and turned over sensitive information about…
2H 2022 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Consumer Reviews)
Section 230 * Ayala v. Viator, Inc., 2021 Mass. Super. LEXIS 1151 (Mass. Superior Ct. Nov. 19, 2021): The claims in the Second Amended Complaint seek to hold Defendants liable…