Court case

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Meta’s Facebook, allowing to go forward a lawsuit brought by investors who claim they were misled by the social media giant about risks from a massive data breach. The justices wrote in a unanimous, one-line opinion that the case was “improvidently granted,” meaning the court should not have taken it in the first place.

The Justice Department and a group of states asked a federal court to force Google to sell Chrome, its popular web browser, a move that could fundamentally alter the $2 trillion company’s business and reshape competition on the internet. The request follows a landmark ruling in August by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S.

X, the social media app owned by Elon Musk, has sued California in an attempt to block a new law requiring large online platforms to remove or label deceptive election content. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, targets a law that aims to combat harmful videos, images and audio that have been altered or created with artificial intelligence. Known as deepfakes, this type of content can make it appear as if a person said or did something they didn’t. The law is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2025. Assembly Bill 2655 was one of three bills California Gov.

Chris Mitchell speaks with Andy Schwartzman, Senior Counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, about pressing legal issues affecting telecommunications policy in the U.S.

A legal battle over the Biden administration’s influence on social media companies looks set to spill into the next Trump administration—and no one knows quite how that will play out. A district judge allowed the case known as Missouri v. Biden to resume even as the Biden administration winds down. The Supreme Court vacated his previous ruling in the case in June, but the new one means the plaintiffs can now pursue additional discovery.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) has been stuck in legislative limbo as the government wrestles with how to improve the subsidy program. Experts think USF reform could see momentum in Trump’s second term, but how that will pan out is a trickier question to answer. The USF, which supports broadband access and affordability in rural and low-income communities, is made up of four [sic] smaller programs: Connect America Fund, Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care. One glaring problem with the current USF framework is the shrinking contribution base.

Superior Court Judge Brian Stern issued a decision dismissing Cox Communication’s lawsuit against Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. Stern says this is a matter that should be pursued in federal court.

The future of the $8.5 billion Universal Service Fund (USF), which supports broadband access in schools, libraries, and rural communities, hangs in the balance as three critical court cases move forward. In a rare twist, two cases saw oral arguments on the same day, adding a sense of urgency to the outcomes. These decisions could redefine affordable internet connectivity for students, families, and communities nationwide. We summarize each case and outline the stakes for the E-rate and other USF programs. As we await the courts’ decisions, SHLB is not just observing from the sidelines.

Verizon asked a federal appellate court to nix the $47 million fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission for sharing customers' location data. “The agency ignored the limits of its authority in these multiple ways, in an effort to show force against a large company that did nothing wrong,” Verizon argues in a written brief filed with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Meta’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Ethan Zuckerman, who teaches public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who wants to build a tool that allows Facebook users to unfollow everyone in their feed.