Court case

Judge Terry Doughty of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana restricted parts of the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking action against Amazon for its years-long effort to enroll consumers into its Prime program without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions to Prime. In a complaint, the FTC charges that Amazon has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime.

The Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund (USF) faces its third recent challenge June 14 in oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit over Congress’ delegation authority. The lawsuits from Consumers’ Research seek to clarify limits on Congress’ authority to delegate power to executive agencies, and what powers agencies can leave to private actors. In 2022, the USF approved nearly $7.5 billion in non-COVID spending on accessible broadband service, funded by its increasing contribution factor.

Gannett, the largest publisher in the US, filed a federal lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Google for monopolization of advertising technology markets and deceptive commercial practices.

TikTok is being sued over data privacy — again.

The Supreme Court handed twin victories to technology platforms on May 18 by declining in two cases to hold them liable for content posted by their users. In a case involving Google, the court for now rejected efforts to limit the sweep of the law that frees the platforms from liability for user content, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

The Federal Communications Commission quietly won two court cases over the last month that most folks have not heard about. A group of complainants brought a suit against the FCC, saying that the agency didn’t have explicit direction from Congress for the creation of the Universal Service Fund (USF) or the authority to delegate the operation of the USF to a third party.

Comcast and Verizon urged Maryland's highest court to strike down a 2021 law that imposes a tax on some digital ads, arguing both that the statute violates the Constitution, and that it conflicts with a 1998 federal law. The hearing centered on a 2021 Maryland law that imposes taxes on some online companies with more than $100 million in digital ad revenue.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit joined the 5th Circuit in rejecting an attack on the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF). The  USF is a critical means of reducing the cost of broadband and other telecommunications services for schools, hospitals and libraries, for low-income consumers, and for residents of rural America. The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, MediaJustice, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance are intervenors supporting the FCC in this case.