A federal district court judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., dismissed the complaint in a case filed by Genius, a platform that lets users share and annotate lyrics, holding that the plaintiff’s claims were preempted by copyright law. The suit alleged that Google had stolen from Genius transcriptions of song lyrics, and included those song lyrics
In Elliott v. Donegan, a federal district court in New York held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not warrant the dismissal of a defamation claim where the plaintiff’s complaint did not “foreclose[] the possibility that Defendant created or developed the allegedly unlawful content.” The content at issue was a “publicly accessible, shared Google spreadsheet” titled “Shitty Media Men” that the defendant Moira Donegan had started containing a list of men in the media business who had allegedly committed some form of sexual violence.
Donegan, a media professional, circulated the list via email and other electronic means to women in her industry in an effort to share information about “people to avoid.” The list included the headings “NAME, AFFILIATION, ALLEGED MISCONDUCT, and NOTES.” It also included a disclaimer at the top of the spreadsheet stating, “This document is only a collection of misconduct allegations and rumors. Take everything with a grain of salt.”
After Donegan first published the list, “Shitty Media Men” assumed a life of its own. The spreadsheet went viral and a flurry of allegations were swiftly submitted. Soon, 70 men were named and major media outlets were preparing to publish related stories. As a result, the defendant took the spreadsheet offline about 12 hours after she posted it.
Continue Reading EDNY Refuses to Dismiss on § 230 Grounds in “Shitty Media Men” Defamation Case
It is another win for social media platforms in the realm of the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230. In a case of first impression within the Third Circuit, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Hepp v. Facebook ruled that social media platforms are immune under the Communications Decency Act for right of publicity violations under state law by users of such platforms.
Karen Hepp, a television news anchor for FOX 29 News, filed a complaint against several social media platforms, including Facebook, Imgur, Reddit, and Giphy (collectively, “social media defendants”), alleging that the social media defendants violated Pennsylvania’s right of publicity statute and Hepp’s common law right of publicity, based on such defendants’ “unlawful use of her image.”
Two years before filing her complaint, Hepp discovered that a photograph of her was taken without her consent by a security camera in a New York City convenience store. The photograph was subsequently used in online advertisements for erectile dysfunction and dating websites. For example, Hepp’s photograph was featured: (a) on Imgur under the heading “milf,” and (b) on a Reddit post titled “Amazing” in the subgroup r/obsf (“older but still $#^able”). Hepp alleged that, as a public figure, she suffered harm from the unauthorized publication of her image on the platforms hosted by the social media defendants, but she did not allege that such defendants created, authored, or directly published the photograph at issue.
Expressing concern about the spread of disinformation related to COVID-19, Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra said Congress may need “to reassess the special privileges afforded to tech platforms, especially given their vast power to curate and present content in ways that may manipulate users.” His words implicate one of our favorite topics here at Socially
In a purported attempt to safeguard free speech, President Trump has issued an order “Preventing Online Censorship,” that would eliminate the protections afforded by one of our favorite topics here at Socially Aware, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally protects online platforms from liability for content posted by third parties. President
Often lauded as the most important law for online speech, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) does not just protect popular websites like Facebook, YouTube and Google from defamation and other claims based on third-party content. It is also critically important to spyware and malware protection services that offer online filtration tools.
Section 230(c)(2) grants broad immunity to any interactive computer service that blocks content it considers to be “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.” Under a plain reading of the statute, Section 230(c)(2) clearly offers broad protection. With respect to what the phrase “otherwise objectionable” was intended to capture, however, the protections are less clear.
Continue Reading Computer Service Providers Face Implied Limits on CDA Immunity
A federal district court in Illinois allowed claims for vicarious and direct copyright infringement to proceed against an employee of the Chicago Cubs Baseball Club for retweeting a third-party tweet containing the plaintiff’s copyrighted material. Read the opinion.
Thinking of backing Biden in November? Would his unequivocal opinion on Section 230 of the Communications
In a move that might be part of a settlement that YouTube has entered into with the Federal Trade Commission, the video-sharing site said it will ban “targeted” advertisements on videos likely to be watched by children. Because targeted ads rely on information collected about the platform’s users, displaying such ads to children
A recent decision from a federal court in New York highlights the limits social media users enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The case involves Joy Reid, the popular host of MSNBC’s AM Joy who has more than two million Twitter and Instagram followers, and the interaction between a young Hispanic boy and a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA)–hat wearing woman named Roslyn La Liberte at a Simi Valley, California, City Council meeting.
The case centers on a single re-tweet by Reid and two of her Instagram posts.
Here is Reid’s re-tweet.
It says: “You are going to be the first deported” “dirty Mexican” Were some of the things they yelled at this 14 year old boy. He was defending immigrants at a rally and was shouted down.
Spread this far and wide this woman needs to be put on blast.
Here is Reid’s first Instagram post from the same day.
It says: joyannreid He showed up to a rally to defend immigrants. … She showed up too, in her MAGA hat, and screamed, “You are going to be the first deported” … “dirty Mexican!” He is 14 years old. She is an adult. Make the picture black and white and it could be the 1950s and the desegregation of a school. Hate is real, y’all. It hasn’t even really gone away.
Continue Reading The Joys and Dangers of Tweeting: A CDA Immunity Update
A recent Second Circuit decision makes clear that the safe harbor that social media and other Internet companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act broadly applies to a wide variety of claims.
When you think about the Section 230 safe harbor, don’t just think defamation or other similar state law claims. Consider whether the claim—be it federal, state, local, or foreign—seeks to hold a party that publishes third-party content on the Internet responsible for publishing the content. If, after stripping it all down, this is the crux of the cause of action, the safe harbor should apply (absent a few statutory exclusions discussed below). The safe harbor should apply even if the party uses its discretion as a publisher in deciding how best to target its audience or to display the information provided by third parties.
In 2016, Facebook was sued by the estates of four U.S. citizens who died in terrorist attacks in Israel and one who narrowly survived but was grievously injured. The plaintiffs claimed that Facebook should be held liable under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terror Act, which provide a private right of action against those who aid and abet acts of international terrorism, conspire in furtherance of acts of terrorism, or provide material support to terrorist groups. The plaintiffs also asserted claims arising under Israeli law.
Continue Reading CDA Section 230 Immunizes Platform From Liability for Friend and Content Suggestion Algorithms
