Digital Media
Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Online: Australia’s Age-Gating of Digital Speech
Zoe TakalaThere’s a dark irony to Australia’s paternalism here. We’re a nation willing to jail ten-year-olds, yet hesitant to trust them with an Instagram account.
Hunting for the Logic of FSC v. Paxton
Jeff HermesThe categories “obscene as to minors” and “pornography” are not synonymous, and this decision threatens a wide array of valuable albeit adult-oriented content. And even if this case were limited to porn, you should still care because the disingenuous manner in which the Court reaches its result threatens the integrity of First Amendment jurisprudence as…
Free Speech and Artificial Intelligence
Jeff HermesMessages generated by artificial intelligence present fascinating questions because they can seem like “speech from nowhere,” challenging our preconceptions not only of freedom of speech but of what communication is in the first place. However, focusing on the interests underlying the First Amendment reveals that not much changes from a free speech perspective, because it…
Arkansas Age-Gating Law Is Permanently Enjoined
Jeff HermesThe decision was a complete win for NetChoice, declaring that the law was a content- and speaker-based restriction that failed strict scrutiny and was moreover unconstitutionally vague.
TikTok Falls Under the Long Shadow of Holder
Jeff HermesThis case presents what I have started to think about as a First Amendment checksum error: If you interpret the First Amendment as not only permitting but actually justifying greater government control over the content of speech, then you know there is an error in your analysis even if you can’t pinpoint it.
Third Circuit Cites First Amendment to Limit § 230 Protection
Jeff HermesIn its opinion in Anderson v. TikTok, the Third Circuit held that Section 230 offers no protection for the sua sponte recommendation of content by social media platforms.
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Claimed Censorship Case Against Facebook and Fact-Checking Organizations Brought by RFK, Jr. Group
Daniela Abratt-CohenThe Court held the district court properly dismissed a case filed by Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that advocates against vaccines, finding that it failed to a state a claim that fact-checks, and other restrictions, regarding its ability to post and fundraise on Facebook violated the First Amendment…
Strange Facts, But Wire Service Defense Wins the Day in Florida
Charles GlasserWhile the facts of the case are almost one-in-a-million, the legal issues – involving libel by embedding allegedly defamatory tweets written by others – is something we are dealing with more and more frequently.
NetChoice v. Moody: A Strong Statement of First Amendment Rights, But the Devil is in the Details
Jeff HermesOn the surface, this ruling appears to ensure that the First Amendment protects the editorial discretion of platforms just as it has protected the editorial discretion of newspapers. But with a caveat in a concurrence from Justice Barrett and comments from the other four justices challenging the Court’s decision to apply the law based on…
Federal Court Holds That Copyright Act Preempts X’s Web Scraping Claims
Jeremy GoldmanIn a blockbuster ruling that is bound to have far-reaching implications, including in the swarm of copyright infringement cases brought against AI platforms, a California federal court recently dismissed a complaint that X Corp. brought against web scraping company Bright Data.