Digital Review
A monthly round-up of legal tech news from MLRC deputy director Jeff Hermes.
MLRC Digital Review October-November 2025
Jeff contemplates the future of the Digital Review | Eleventh Circuit allows Florida’s social media age-gating law to take effect | “Dude With Sign” is actual dude, has ROP rights | Copyright decisions on AI-generated summaries of fiction and news | Facebook defeats FTC antitrust lawsuit | Tracking ICE and tracking by ICE | Bad…
MLRC Digital Review September 2025
The Ninth Circuit strikes down California’s ban on visible “like counts” for minors while upholding privacy defaults | The Trump administration cuts a deal to keep TikTok online under Oracle oversight | Warner Bros., Disney, and Universal bring new AI-training infringement suits in California | FTC and ICE actions renew concern over warrantless data access…
MLRC Digital Review July 2025
The VPPA fight barrels toward the Supreme Court as pixel-tracking rulings diverge | Courts split AI copyright into acquisition, training, and outputs | FSC v. Paxton cracks the door to sweeping state age-gating laws | Anderson v. TikTok faces a chilly reception in New York | Payment processors tighten the screws on controversial speech platforms…
MLRC Digital Review May-June 2025
The justices uphold Texas’s adult content age-gating law in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton | Kadrey and Bartz on AI training and fair use | Did a Copyright Office report spark the Register’s ouster? | Cox copyright case heads to SCOTUS | Trump’s FTC ramps up pressure on platforms | Clearview AI settles long-running biometric…
MLRC Digital Review January-February 2025
Jeff tries out a new assistant for the Digital Review | The Supreme Court blesses a TikTok ban, then two presidents back down | The justices wrestle with Texas’s age-gating law | Trump’s second-term assault on content moderation | Section 230 takes some hits thanks to Anderson | The FCC and FTC pivot toward platform…
MLRC Digital Review September 2024
California Gov. Newsom’s pen gets a workout; The D.C. Circuit hears TikTok; Another chance for KOSA and COPPA 2.0; The Second Circuit rejects a fair use defense for the “Free Digital Library”; The copyrightability of AI-generated works; Hold On, a Seven Nation Army is Comin’ on Electric Avenue; A federal bill to kill Alice; Another…
Digital Review June-July 2024
The Supreme Court decides Murthy, Moody, and more, and takes an age-gating case | Briefing heats up in the TikTok case | KOSA is dead for now | The NO FAKES Act gains support from Hollywood studios | Copyright battles over AI continue | Justice Thomas comments on Section 230 yet again | Net neutrality…
Digital Review May 2024
The Supreme Court decides NRA v. Vullo, Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, and Coinbase v. Suski | TikTok challenges the national ban | RFK Jr.’s legal team keeps busy | REPORT, KOSA, KOSMA, COPPA 2.0 and other child safety laws advance | ScarJo and OpenAI | Scraping law & copyright preemption | Monetary judgments in…
Digital Review April 2024
President Biden signs the “TikTok ban,” and a national data privacy bill is introduced | The Supreme Court denies a stay of the Fifth Circuit’s age gating decision, and denies cert regarding Elon Musk’s “Twitter sitter” | The Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony on the NO FAKES Act, as generative AI continues to drive lawsuits…
Digital Review February & March 2024
The Supreme Court decides Lindke and hears NetChoice and Murthy | The House passes a TikTok bill | The Fifth Circuit looses Ken Paxton on adult websites | X’s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate is SLAPPed down | The DOJ launches its big antitrust lawsuit against Apple | Yes, but is it…