Social Media - The Indiana Lawyer

Knox Co. teen who sent threatening social media message loses appeal of delinquency adjudication

August 4, 2021 | Katie Stancombe

A Knox County teenager who sent a threatening social media message to numerous middle school students involving guns will retain a delinquency adjudication for felony intimidation, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday, though a misdemeanor adjudication was vacated on double jeopardy grounds. The appellate court declined to dismiss the message as a “juvenile antic” in light of the numerous American school shootings in recent years.

Should Congress amend online immunity for Big Tech? No perfect answer

July 21, 2021 | Katie Stancombe

Signing into your preferred social media platform is usually simple. But what if you’ve been blocked temporarily — or permanently — after posting content that caused a stir? That’s the heart of a current political battle over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Dozens of states including Indiana target Google’s app store in antitrust suit

July 8, 2021 | Associated Press and IL Staff

Dozens of states including Indiana are taking aim at Google in an escalating legal offensive on Big Tech. This time, attorneys general for 36 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit targeting Google’s Play store, where consumers download apps designed for the Android software that powers most of the world’s smartphones.

Trump announces suits against Facebook, Twitter and Google

July 7, 2021 | Associated Press and IL Staff

Former President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is filing suits against three of the country’s biggest tech companies: Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their CEOs.

Franklin mayor sued for blocking resident on Facebook after BLM video

June 25, 2021 | IL Staff

The mayor of Franklin has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana after he allegedly blocked an individual from accessing his Facebook page.

Justices rule for cursing cheerleader over Snapchat post

June 23, 2021 | Associated Press

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Pennsylvania public school wrongly suspended a student from cheerleading over a vulgar social media post she made after she didn’t qualify for the varsity team.

Protective order against ‘ruthless’ social media attacker upheld

May 26, 2021 | Olivia Covington

D.V. filed for a protective order in December 2019, testifying that she’d been forced to change her phone number because of P.D.’s tactics and saying she felt “scared” and “desperate.” The Tippecanoe Superior Court granted the protective order.

Student’s arrest for racist post sparks free speech debate

May 20, 2021 | Associated Press

The arrest of a Connecticut high school student accused of posting racist comments about a Black classmate on social media is being supported by civil rights advocates, but free speech groups are calling it an unusual move by police that raises First Amendment issues.

AGs urge Facebook to drop ‘Instagram for kids’ proposal

May 10, 2021 | Associated Press and IL Staff

A bipartisan group of 44 attorneys general has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to drop company plans for a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday.

Facebook board upholds Trump ban, just not an indefinite one

May 5, 2021 | Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump won’t return to Facebook — at least not yet. Four months after Facebook suspended Trump’s accounts for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the bans but told Facebook to specify how long they would last.

Wary Supreme Court weighs student’s Snapchat profanity case

April 29, 2021 | Associated Press

A wary Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed whether public schools can discipline students for things they say off campus, worrying about overly restricting speech on the one hand and leaving educators powerless to deal with bullying on the other.

Police allege man left explosive device at Terre Haute police station

April 26, 2021 | Associated Press

A 50-year-old man was arrested Saturday for allegedly leaving an improvised explosive device and causing a fire outside the Terre Haute Police Department.

Watchdog lays bare Capitol Police’s riot security failures

April 14, 2021

A blistering internal report by the U.S. Capitol Police describes a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the Jan. 6 insurrection — riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that couldn’t be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards.

High court nixes Alex Jones’ appeal in Newtown shooting case

April 5, 2021 | Associated Press

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

SCOTUS dismisses case over Trump and Twitter critics

April 5, 2021 | Associated Press

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to block critics from his personal Twitter account. The court said there was nothing left to the case after Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter and ended his presidential term in January.

Supreme Court sides with Facebook in text message dispute

April 2, 2021 | Associated Press

The United States Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Facebook in a lawsuit over unwanted text notifications it sent, rejecting a claim that the messages violated the federal ban on robocalls.

Court lets woman’s defamation suit vs. Trump proceed again

March 31, 2021 | Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump could face questioning under oath about a former reality TV show contestant’s sexual assault allegations against him after a ruling from New York’s highest court Tuesday.

Clark Co. nurse allegedly removed COVID-19 patient’s oxygen

March 29, 2021 | Associated Press

A southern Indiana nurse has been charged with practicing medicine without a license for allegedly removing a nursing home resident’s oxygen mask hours before he died from COVID-19 last year.

Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6B over 2020 election claims

March 26, 2021 | Associated Press

Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, arguing the cable news giant falsely claimed in an effort to boost faltering ratings that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election.

Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibility

March 26, 2021 | Associated Press

The CEOs of tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google faced a grilling Thursday in Congress as lawmakers tried to draw them into acknowledging their companies’ roles in fueling the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and rising COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

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