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Twitter Asks Judge To Dismiss Devin Nunes' Frivolous Lawsuit Via Section 230

Twitter Asks Judge To Dismiss Devin Nunes' Frivolous Lawsuit Via Section 230

5 years ago
Anonymous $yQ5BfQaAxy

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200124/11343543794/twitter-asks-judge-to-dismiss-devin-nunes-frivolous-lawsuit-via-section-230.shtml

It's kind of incredible that Devin Nunes' first frivolous, censorial lawsuit is still going on -- but it is. This is the one against two satirical Twitter accounts that made fun of Nunes, as well as political strategist Liz Mair and Twitter the company itself. Twitter had tried to get the case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, saying the case belonged in California, but that failed. Now Twitter has played the next obvious card: saying that Section 230 of the CDA prevents Nunes from suing it over the satirical accounts. Tragically, the Fresno Bee has not posted the actual legal filings, and they're in a state court that does not make them easily accessible to the public, so I don't have the full filing yet. However, from the Fresno Bee's account, it appears that Twitter is making a pretty typical CDA 230 argument:

“Congress granted providers of online platforms like Twitter broad immunity from claims that seek to hold them liable for harms caused by defamatory or otherwise harmful content that appeared on the provider’s platform but were created by third parties,” the motion to dismiss reads. “(The law) protects such providers not only from liability but also from being subjected to the burdens of discovery or other aspects of litigation.”