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US Representative Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) Can't Sue Twitter Over Statements by Fake Cow, Judge Rules

posted by martyb on Friday June 26 2020, @10:11AM   
from the don't-have-a-cow,-man. dept.

DeathMonkey writes:

Devin Nunes can't sue Twitter over statements by fake cow, judge rules:

A judge has ruled that Rep. Devin Nunes has no right to sue Twitter over statements made by a fake Internet cow, someone parodying his mother and a Republican strategist.

Judge John Marshall said in a decision Friday that Twitter was "immune from the defamation claims of" Nunes, R-Tulare, due to federal law that says social media companies are not liable for what people post on their platforms.

Nunes "seeks to have the court treat Twitter as the publisher or speaker of the content provided by others based on its allowing or not allowing certain content to be on its internet platform," Marshall wrote. "The court refuses to do so."

Nunes sued Twitter, the two parody accounts known as Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom and strategist Liz Mair in March 2019. He alleged the latter three had defamed him online, ruining his reputation and causing him to win his 2018 election by a narrower margin than normal. He accused Twitter of being negligent for allowing the alleged defamation.

Twitter's lawyers, in their motion to dismiss the suit, argued that Twitter was immune from the lawsuit due to federal law. The law, known as Section 230, says that social media companies like Twitter are not liable for what third parties post on their platform. The only exception is if Twitter personally helped develop or create the content. Both Twitter and Nunes agreed the company did not do that in this case.

Also at Ars Technica.

Previously:
(2019-03-22) "He's Literally Suing an Imaginary Cow": Late-Night Hosts Mock Rep. Devin Nunes

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Original Submission

• Re:Start of social media Supreme Court case? (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2020, @11:11PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2020, @11:11PM (#1013023)

  Over the last half century, the US has turned politics from a practical way to solve common problems into a cultural arena to display resentments.

  The former never existed. The 'good old days' never existed.

  There have been times where Americans have worked together. That you attempt to deny this makes me wonder whether you're just ignorant, a political shill or both.

  Politics has long been called "the art of the possible." But that requires compromise. When you demonize your neighbors, friends and family, you destroy opportunities to make life better for *all of us*.

  You should be ashamed of yourself.

  Here's a sampling of just how misguided/full of shit you are [nationalaffairs.com]:

  One would have to look as far back as the 1890s to find such starkly partisan voting, at least on major legislation tied to the most salient policy debates of the day. In the 20th century, by contrast, even the large entitlement programs that now worry deficit hawks were adopted with bipartisan backing. In 1935, for instance, the Social Security Act got a nod from 16 of the Senate's 25 Republicans, and fully 81 of the 102 Republican members of the House. In 1965, Medicare split House Republicans almost evenly — 70 in favor, 68 against — and won the votes of 13 out of 30 Senate Republicans. These monumental pieces of legislation would form the core of the American welfare state — and, for a wide swath of the electorate, would solidify allegiance to the party that played the leading role in passing them: the Democrats. Nonetheless, both drew far greater bipartisan support than any of the Obama administration's major social- and economic-policy initiatives.

  https://bipartisanpolicy.org/history-of-bipartisanship/ [bipartisanpolicy.org]
  https://theconversation.com/congress-used-to-pass-bipartisan-legislation-will-it-ever-again-107134 [theconversation.com]
  https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/history-shows-bipartisanship-dissolves-crises-evolve [wilsoncenter.org]
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEczkhfLwqM [youtube.com]
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipartisanship [wikipedia.org]

  Parent

  Starting Score:	0		points
  Moderation		+1
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  Total Score:		1