Digital Media
Second Circuit Holds that Facebook Is Not a State Actor Based on Content Removal
Alexa Millinger and Daniela Mays-SanchezThe Second Circuit affirmed that Facebook did not violate plaintiff’s Constitutional rights to free speech and due process by allegedly deleting and blocking his Facebook posts.
A New World of Intangible Property: NFTs and IP Rights
Milton Springut and Stephanie M. SmithAn exploration of some of the potential intellectual property challenges, strategies, and controversies that may arise around NFTs.
News Anchor’s Right of Publicity Claims Can Proceed to Discovery
Tobin RajuThe court recognized Hepp sufficiently alleged that she had spent considerable time and effort cultivating an image, implying, but not expressly holding, her image had commercial value.
Section 230 Does Not Apply to Retweet Because Author Said He “Vouch[ed] for” the Retweeted Article
Sara Benson & Cindy GierhartThe Court held that Section 230 “may provide immunity for someone who merely shares a link on Twitter” but “it does not immunize someone for making additional remarks that are allegedly defamatory.”
Northern District of California Dismisses Case Against Facebook and Twitter
Allyson Veile and Maggie StrouseThe decision joins the growing collection of case law rejecting First Amendment claims against social media companies for exercising control over the content that appears on their platforms.
Ninth Circuit Reaffirms CFAA Does Not Prohibit Web Scraping in hiQ v. LinkedIn
Grayson Clary, Gillian Vernick and Gabe RottmanThe case was an important early test of Van Buren’s significance for scraping and other data journalism techniques.
Ninth Circuit Affirms Ruling That Twitter’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Retaliation By Texas AG Is Unripe
Jeff HermesThe Ninth Circuit ruled that a lawsuit filed by Twitter, alleging that it was the target of retaliation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in violation of its First Amendment rights, was not “prudentially ripe.”
Ninth Circuit: FCC Stymied Its Own Ability to Block State Net Neutrality Rules
Jeff HermesIn a precedential opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of California’s state net neutrality rules, as set forth in the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018.
Delaware Court Latest to Point the Twitter Finger: Tweets Can Constitute Actionable Expressions of Fact
Amy E. Pearl, John C. Connell, and Peter L. FrattarelliIn green lighting compliance with the subpoenas, the court found that tweets could constitute actionable expressions of fact sufficient to support a claim for defamation.
Court Enjoins Texas Social Media “Censorship” Law
Avery WesterlundJudge Pitman granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the Texas Attorney General from enforcing HB 20, which prohibits large social media platforms from “censoring” content based on “viewpoint.”