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New Developments in the World of Section 230
PATIENT PRIVACY IN AN ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Are websites legally responsible for content posted by their users?
Stealth Lawyer: Zach Abramowitz, 'Blogcaster'
On May 19, President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law. The act will have an immediate impact on platform providers, which will be required to actively monitor and, in many cases, censor the speech of their...more
In this second installment of our six-part series examining Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes online service providers from liability stemming from the publication and...more
Key Points - This September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 587 into law, establishing new transparency requirements for social media companies. The new requirements include publicly posting and submitting to the...more
Online platforms that allow users to post content face a constant choice: to remove or to not remove, to police or not to police. Shakespearean allusions aside, platforms generally want user engagement — to reach as many...more
In the past month, there have been some notable developments surrounding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA” or “Section 230”) beyond the ongoing debate in Congress over the potential for legislative reform....more
Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act (codified at 47 U.S.C. § 230 (“Section 230”)) has long been credited for the boom of user generated content on the internet — the crux of social media that has driven the...more
What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so. (Attributed (probably wrongly) to Mark Twain) - A funny thing happened to me on the way to this blog: I learned that what...more
In the current environment of reckoning for the societal power of Big Tech, one threat seems ever-present on the tongues of those who would cut these companies down to size. Enacting this threat is likely to have the opposite...more
Loeffler, Cotton Release Bill to Hold Tech Companies Accountable for Child Exploitation, Allow Victims to Sue - "It would amend the US code to strip Section 230 protections from tech companies." Why this is important:...more
The appetite for acquisitions and investment in online businesses has never been stronger, with many of the most attractive online opportunities being businesses that host, manage and leverage user-generated content. These...more
Assaults on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (the “CDA”)—which shields online platforms from civil liability for third party content on their services—are abundant these days. On October 15, 2020, FCC Chairman...more
In an interview with the editorial board of the New York Times, published today, former Vice President Joe Biden advocated for repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). As readers of this blog may know,...more
On September 4, 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced Google and YouTube will pay a record $170 million as part of a settlement over allegations that YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act...more
In the swirl of scrutiny surrounding the big Silicon Valley tech companies and with some in Congress declaiming that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) should be curtailed, 2019 has quietly been an important...more
As we have frequently noted on Socially Aware, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media sites and other online platforms from liability for user-generated content. Sometimes referred to as “the law...more
In the past few months, there have been a number of notable decisions affirming broad immunity under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. §230(c), for online providers that host third party content. The beat goes...more
Three recent court decisions affirmed the robust immunity under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. §230(c), for online providers that host third-party content: the Second Circuit’s decision in Herrick v. Grindr...more
Sometimes, bad facts don’t make bad law. Two recent decisions confirm that a federal immunity protects websites from claims that they allowed their users to post content that ultimately caused injury or even death. ...more
Often hailed as the law that gave us the modern Internet, Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act generally protects online platforms from liability for content posted by third parties. Many commentators, including us...more
A California attorney and her law firm filed a petition on October 18, 2018, asking the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) to review the California Supreme Court’s ruling that reversed an injunction that would have...more
A California state appellate court sided with Twitter and put a halt to a lawsuit filed against the social media service by white nationalist Jared Taylor....more
People turn to the internet to find reputable businesses, compliment a local coffee shop, and even lambaste the service at a nearby restaurant. The ubiquitous influence of online ratings, rants, and reviews is felt by...more
In our Alerts dated June 22, 2016 and September 22, 2016, we followed the case of Hassell v. Bird where a lower court, in a matter involving a defamation action brought by a law firm (“Hassell”) against a disgruntled former...more
In a closely watched case, the California Supreme Court on Monday confirmed it will continue to broadly interpret the immunity provided by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230. Hassell v. Bird,...more
In a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court ruled this week that Yelp cannot be forced to remove a review posted on its website. Hassell v. Bird, 2018 WL 3213933 (Cal. Sup. Ct. July 2, 2018). Both the superior...more