ByteDance's CapCut videoediting app, launched three years ago in the U.S. and fast approaching 250 million monthly active users, “facilitates” the unlawful collection “of a wide range of private information from users, including their biometric information,” alleged a privacy class action Friday (docket 1:23-cv-04953) against ByteDance and TikTok, for heavily promoting the app, in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s July 4 injunction barring dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social media companies about content moderation is an “unconstitutional prior restraint” on the rights of organizations to speak “freely and petition the government for a redress of grievances,” said an amicus brief Friday (docket 23-30445). Filed at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the government’s efforts to vacate the injunction, the brief was submitted by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and Common Cause.
The July 4 injunction barring dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social media platforms about content moderation (see 2307050042) was “erroneous,” said an amicus brief Friday (docket 23-30445) in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from the Democratic attorneys generation of 20 states, plus the District of Columbia, in support of DOJ’s appeal to reverse the injunction. “In purporting to protect First Amendment values,” U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe, a President Donald Trump appointee, “significantly restricted the flow of public discourse on vitally important issues,” said the AGs.
The U.S. Supreme Court docketed Epic Games’ July 25 emergency application (docket 23A78) asking Justice Elena Kagan to vacate the stay of the appellate mandate issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, or in the alternative, to vacate the court’s stay pending appeal. The stay is preventing enforcement of the injunction that Epic won in the district court to enjoin Apple from imposing its anti-steering rules against mobile app developers. Kagan is Supreme Court justice for the 9th circuit.
Governments throughout the U.S. have designated certain areas that aren’t “appropriate for minors to occupy,” said Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) in his opposition Thursday in U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville to NetChoice’s July 7 motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin him from enforcing the state’s social media age verification law when it takes effect Sept. 1 (see 2307100005).
The Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), the cyber policy center headquartered at Stanford University in California, was a founding member of the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and the Virality Project (VP), groups that improperly figured prominently in U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s July 4 injunction barring dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social-media companies about content moderation. So said the university, SIO Director Alex Stamos and Renee DiResta, SIO’s research director, in their amicus brief Friday (docket 23-30445) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the government’s appeal to defeat the injunction.
The U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia “improperly discredited sworn testimony” when it granted summary judgment in T-Mobile’s favor and incorrectly ruled Simply Wireless had abandoned rights to the “Simply Prepaid” trademark, said Simply’s reply brief Wednesday (docket 22-2236) in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association seeks leave to file an amicus brief by Aug. 4 in support of the plaintiffs’ motions for a preliminary injunction to block Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing SB-419, the state’s TikTok ban, when it takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2307070002), said CCIA’s unopposed motion Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-00061) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula. The ACLU together with Electronic Frontier Foundation and NetChoice in tandem with the Chamber of Progress also filed unopposed motions for leave Wednesday to submit amicus briefs by Aug. 4 in support of the injunction.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey for Western Arkansas in El Dorado granted the motion of Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) to remand his complaint against TikTok and ByteDance to Union County Circuit Court where it originated before TikTok and ByteDance removed it May 9 (see 2305100036), said Hickey’s signed order Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-01038). Griffin’s complaint alleges Tik Tok and its parent company violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by duping Arkansas consumers about the risks of the Chinese government gaining access to and exploiting their personal data.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe erred when he imposed his July 4 injunction barring dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social media platforms on content moderation (see 2307050042), said DOJ’s opening brief Tuesday (docket 23-30445) in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the government's motion to continue the stay in the injunction pending appeal.