TechFreedom Backs Meta in Massachusetts Social Media Lawsuit
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts should block the state’s lawsuit against Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, said TechFreedom in an amicus brief filed Tuesday (docket SJC-13747). The state’s lawsuit targeting “addictive” features of the social media platforms violates Section 230 of the Communications Act, TechFreedom said. “The supposedly ‘addictive’ features the Commonwealth challenges are nothing more than publishing decisions: the cadence of content delivery (autoplay), the quantity of content delivered (infinite scroll), and the choice of what content to highlight (notifications),” said the filing. Those features are “classic editorial decisions” about displaying third-party material and “fall squarely” within Section 230’s protections for platforms from litigation over content posted by users, the group said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“Section 230 draws no line between traditional editorial devices, such as headlines or chapter breaks, and their digital counterparts,” said TechFreedom Director of Appellate Litigation Corbin Barthold in a news release. “If Massachusetts had aimed its lawsuit at newspapers, its censorial intent would be obvious.”