OpenAI seeks the dismissal in its entirety with prejudice of plaintiff Mark Walters’ amended defamation complaint for failure to state a claim, said its motion Friday (docket 1:23-cv-03122) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. Walters, a nationally syndicated talk show host, alleges OpenAI’s ChatGPT service defamed him to a journalist (see 2309060026).

Social media companies, such as Google, have turned the free exchange of ideas “on its head,” said independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Friday reply brief (docket 3:23-cv-03880) in support of his motion for a preliminary injunction against Google to prevent it from removing his videos from YouTube. Kennedy is suing Google in a free speech suit after YouTube removed anti-vaccine videos of Kennedy’s that violated its medical misinformation policy.

The U.S. District Court for Connecticut in New Haven “correctly held” Aug. 30 that all preliminary injunction factors weigh in Charter Communications’ favor when it instructed defendant Bridger Mahlum to show cause why an emergency preliminary injunction shouldn’t be issued, said Charter’s reply brief Friday (docket 3:23-cv-01106) in support of that injunction.

Eisenhower Medical Center installed Facebook’s Meta Pixel tracking tool and other third-party tracking technology on its web properties in order to send users' private information to third parties such as Facebook or Google, allege plaintiffs B.K. and N.Z. in a Thursday privacy class action (docket 5:23-cv-02092) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Riverside.

“Tens of thousands” of FuboTV subscribers in 23 Nexstar markets were under threat to “suddenly lose access to ABC content” Saturday for two months, said a Fubo breach of contract complaint (docket 654978/2023) Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Fubo seeks a permanent injunction enjoining Nexstar and Tribune Media, which it bought in 2019, “from restricting access by Fubo subscribers to ABC content from affiliate stations.”

USTelecom and its Industry Traceback Group (ITG) subsidiary seek to quash three deposition subpoenas served on them Sept. 28 by Avid Telecom CEO Michael Lansky, said their memorandum Thursday (docket 1:23-mc-00103) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of their motion to quash.

The Republican National Committee’s case against Google is about a market-dominant communications firm “unlawfully discriminating” against the RNC “by relegating its email messages to subscribers’ spam folders because of the RNC’s political affiliation and views,” said the RNC’s first amended complaint Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-01904) in U.S. District Court for Eastern California in Sacramento. U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta, in an Aug. 24 order, granted Google’s motion to dismiss the RNC’s original complaint but also granted the committee partial leave to amend to establish that Google didn’t act in good faith (see 2308250030).

“Technology has evolved but the law has not," said defendants Atlas Marketing Partners and Atlas Investment Ventures in a Wednesday reply (docket 3:23-cv-00313) in support of their motion to dismiss and to strike the FTC’s February complaint (see 2302170050) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego. The complaint alleges a network of companies and individuals is responsible for delivering “tens of millions” of unwanted VoIP and ringless voicemail (RVM) phony debt service robocalls.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy for Montana in Missoula inundated Montana Solicitor General Christian Corrigan with tough questions during oral argument Thursday when Corrigan defended against a preliminary injunction to block Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing SB-419, the state’s TikTok ban, when the statute takes effect Jan. 1. Five TikTok creators, plus TikTok itself, are seeking the injunction in two consolidated cases (dockets 9:23-cv-00056 and 9:23-cv-00061).

Here are Communications Litigation Today's top stories from last week, in case you missed them. Each can be found by searching on its title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.