Meta's attorney in the MA addictive design case told the Supreme Judicial Court that @epic.org was wrong about how the 9th Circuit interprets Section 230. But it's Meta who is wrong. & it should know better—just last year, the 9th rejected Meta's plea that it adopt the test Meta says it adopted.
Tomorrow, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments on whether the Commonwealth can continue to pursue its case against Meta. Meta is trying to block the case by expanding Section 230 into a broad legal protection, arguing it shouldn’t face scrutiny for its platform design.
This is such brazen censorship. It’s all right there in the open, a quintessential jawboning case, the lawsuit writes itself.
We partnered with these amazing legal, privacy & tech accountability experts on an amicus brief for a case about how Meta’s design choices allegedly harmed kids. At Cybersecurity for Democracy, we conduct scientific research to show how these systems work & what accountability can look like. More 👇🏼
Thanks to @epic.org for leading the way, to @comminsense.bsky.social and TJLP for this collaboration, and the below legal scholars, who signed on in support. What a team! cc: @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social & @meganiorio.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/mega...
The 11 legal scholars are experts on Section 230, platform governance, & digital rights, including @oliviersylvain.bsky.social, @daniellecitron.bsky.social, @brettfrischmann.bsky.social, @FrankPasquale.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy, @gaiabernstein.bsky.social, & @ariezra.bsky.social. Thank you all!
EPIC collaborated w/ @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy (@yaeleisenstat.bsky.social @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) & Tech Justice Law Project on a brief telling the Ninth Circuit to deny Meta Section 230 protections for its allegedly addictive design. 11 legal scholars joined!
SCOTUS's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton today properly leaves legislatures with room to provide kids with heightened protections online but does not go far enough in incentivizing legislatures to prescribe privacy-protective age assurance methods. epic.org/supreme-cour...
The California Age-Appropriate Design Code case is back in the 9th Circuit. Did NetChoice remedy the flaws the Ninth Circuit ID'ed the first time around? Nope. But the district court granted a full injunction anyway—endorsing yet another bad legal theory that endangers long-established privacy laws
BIG NEWS! This afternoon, Governor Phil Scott signed the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) into law! governor.vermont.gov/press-releas...
Also super telling that the Searchlight guy thinks that angering a key Dem constituency is a good thing. My guy you sound like the absolute worst political strategist and all you are going to do is help Dems lose harder.
EPIC applauds the passage of Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) today: epic.org/epic-applaud...
⚠️ NetChoice v. Bonta: An oral argument explainer 🧵
EPIC Senior Counsel Megan Iorio (@meganiorio.bsky.social) and EPIC Counsel Tom McBrien (@tommcbrien.bsky.social) broke down key areas of argument ahead of today’s Ninth Circuit hearing of NetChoice v. Bonta: epic.org/ninth-circui...
A live stream of the argument is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt22...
Ninth Circuit oral argument in NetChoice's challenge to CA's addictive feed law is coming up in a few minutes. We @epic.org put together a quick preview of the argument. epic.org/ninth-circui...
All of that to say he didn’t like what she said in her op-ed so he sent goons to disappear her off the street.
A Tufts University student has been kidnapped for ICE because a year ago, she co-authored this op-ed which criticizes Israel, calls for the adoption of non-binding faculty senate resolutions, and celebrates the end of apartheid in South Africa
www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024...
Thanks Prem for amplifying!
Please sign onto this Columbia boycott (with a carve out for departments and people targeted).
We cannot proceed with business as usual. We cannot give colloquia on a campus that's colluding with authoritarians dragging their students off campus.
The "Is it a constitutional crisis yet?!" discussion is so absurd: Of course you can construct increasingly esoteric definitions for why this current moment doesn't meet your exact criteria yet. But meanwhile, this is where we are: Masked agents of the states abducting people for writing op-eds.
In today’s one-two punch, the @aaup.bsky.social National alongside MESA & 3 of our chapters also sued the Trump administration over their unconstitutional ideological-deportation policies that have chilled speech & dissent on campuses nationwide.
www.aaup.org/news/aaup-al...
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My analysis of the decision issued yesterday in the CA Age-Appropriate Design Code case. Short of it is that the First Amendment analysis is wrong and unnecessary and the judge shouldn’t have opined on the constitutional questions at all b/c the case could have been decided on severability.
Fuck yeah Georgetown Law, this is how you stand up to threats from an authoritarian regime. As an alumna, I knew Martin has picked a fight with the wrong school. GULC is deeply committed to the critical study of law & supports students pursuing public interest in ways other top schools don’t.
With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:
When will Democrats learn you can’t out-Republican the Republicans but you can deploy populism to address the actual problems we’re facing. Trump is dismantling democracy, he is screwing with your social security, he is shredding the freedom to speak, and he’s making every damn one of us less safe.
🚨 EPIC, @democracyforward.bsky.social, and a federal worker filed suit today against DOGE over its illegal seizure of personnel records and payment system data—actions which constitute the largest data breach in American history. 🧵
Read our full complaint here: epic.org/wp-content/u...
The Ninth Circuit has enjoined California's law regulating addictive feeds pending appeal. No opinion attached. Merits briefing in the appeal will proceed on an expedited schedule (completed by mid-to-late March) and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the Ninth Circuit to rule thereafter.
Of all the blatantly unconstitutional things Trump is up to this is up at the top of the list. Yet because it’s about people speaking in support of Palestinian human rights what do you want to bet it doesn’t get the attention that other Trump actions have.
Key takeaways from the TikTok v. Garland decision from @epic.org penned by my colleague @tommcbrien.bsky.social
If you're looking for a preview of this morning's argument in SCOTUS, here you go.
