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These days, some of tech’s most important decisions are being made inside courtrooms. Google and Facebook are fending off antitrust accusations, while patent suits determine how much control of their own products they can have. The slow fight over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act threatens platforms like Twitter and YouTube with untold liability suits for the content they host. Gig economy companies like Uber and Airbnb are fighting for their very existence as their workers push for the protections of full-time employees. In each case, judges and juries are setting the rules about exactly how far tech companies can push the envelope and exactly how much protection everyday people have. This is where we keep track of those legal fights and the broader principles behind them. When you move fast and break things, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when you end up in court.

Gaby Del Valle
Gaby Del Valle
Judge rules Trump illegally shut down CBP’s border-processing app.

Shortly upon returning to office, Trump terminated CBP One, an app the Biden administration used to streamline border processing, and revoked the status of 900,000 migrants who had used it to apply for temporary parole, sending them a mass email reading, “It is time for you to leave the United States.”

In terminating parole “without observing the process mandated by statute and by their own regulations,” US District Court Judge Allison Burroughs ruled, the administration “took action that was ‘not in accordance with law.’”

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Washington state joins the growing number of lawsuits against Kalshi.

Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit against the prediction market on Friday, alleging that it constitutes illegal gambling. This comes shortly after Kalshi was temporarily shut down in Nevada, and Arizona’s AG filed criminal charges against it. AG Nick Brown drew attention to a particularly daming ad:

In one Kalshi advertisement, one person texts another that they “found a way to bet on the NFL even though we live in Washington,” which seems to acknowledge that Kalshi knows that they are attempting to skirt state law. In fact, Kalshi did find a way to bet on the NFL in Washington; all they had to do was break the law.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Judge dismisses X lawsuit accusing advertisers of an “illegal boycott.”

Elon Musk said it was “war” in 2024, as X filed its antitrust lawsuit against World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) members over their Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative.

Now a judge has dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be brought again:

…if facts existed that GARM operated at an X competitor’s behest to put X out of business or that GARM advertisers sought to unfairly exclude competing advertisers from doing business, X would have pleaded those facts. The very nature of the alleged conspiracy does not state an antitrust claim, and the Court
therefore has no qualm dismissing with prejudice.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
EU digital safety rules come for big porn platforms.

The European Commission has preliminarily ruled that Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos have insufficient measures in place to prevent minors from accessing their platforms. The porn sites are being advised to remedy the DSA breaches or risk facing fines:

“At this stage, the Commission considers that Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos need to implement privacy preserving age verification measures to protect children from harmful content.”

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Apple settles Vision Pro leaker lawsuit.

The Cupertino company sued former Vision Pro engineer Di Liu last year for allegedly stealing trade secrets before starting a new role at Snap. The case was dismissed this week after Liu agreed to return Apple’s confidential information and pay the company an undisclosed sum for monetary damages.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Elon’s next legal argument: LinkedIn emoji reactions.

Musk’s lawyers are trying to overturn the recent verdict that found his self-described “stupid tweets” were liable for losses incurred by Twitter investors, pointing to an emoji reaction to a post on LinkedIn from the account of Judge Kathaleen McCormick. In a filing of her own, Reuters reports McCormick said she hadn’t read the post, and that “I either did not click the ‘support’ icon at all, or I did so accidentally.”

Screenshot of a LinkedIn post from Musk’s court filing
Screenshot: court filing
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
A juror’s vacation could complicate deliberations in the LA social media addiction trial.

There could be a sticky situation if jurors don’t reach a verdict today on day nine of deliberations, independent journalist Meghann Cuniff reports. One juror is set to leave on a prepaid vacation tomorrow, and the judge hasn’t yet said what would happen if they go before a verdict.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
What if insider trading is actually treason?

Hey, remember that weird trade The Financial Times highlighted? The one about oil? Paul Krugman doesn’t like it — nor does he like the weird Venezuela trade or the one about death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. I’ve written here about how ill-prepared the CFTC is for insider trading cases. Krugman has a solution: call some of it treason and let the FBI — well, the post-Kash Patel FBI — sort it out.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
This is just to celebrate a hero of the First Amendment, Afroman.

For those of you not familiar, Afroman was raided by the police and then made two music videos (“Will You Help Me Repair My Door“ and ”Lemon Pound Cake”) about it. The officers sued him for using surveillance footage of their raid in the videos. On cross-examination during the trial, Afroman gave a stirring speech on the importance of the First Amendment. He’s also released another video, “Battle Hymn of the Police Whistleblower.”

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Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Citing fake cases in your court filing can be costly.

In this instance of citing cases that don’t exist, two lawyers were instructed to explain how it happened and specifically explain to the court “whether they used generative AI to write the briefs.”

They claimed that the court order was “void on its face.” Now they’re on the hook for $15k each to start, plus a long list of costs and fees that will certainly add up.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Arizona files criminal charges against Kalshi.

According to the Arizona attorney general, Kalshi is illegally operating a gambling business. It’s the first criminal case against the prediction market, which told Reuters that “States like Arizona want to ​individually regulate a nationwide financial exchange, and are trying every trick in the book to ‌do ⁠it.” The case is part of an ongoing dispute between states and the CFTC about who has jurisdiction over Kalshi and similar companies.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
The sound of justice.

It’s a joke so good half the comments section had to make it, but sad to say it’s the other Sotomayor who dropped Terrence’s album of the week (which, I’m happy to confirm, is indeed a total bop).

jarman1992:

Me, a lawyer, reading this headline: “Damn, is there anything Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor can’t do?”

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

What it was like to watch grieving parents stare down Mark Zuckerberg in court

Parent advocates were determined to make their presence known to Meta’s CEO.

Lauren Feiner
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
A class action lawsuit is targeting Valve’s loot boxes.

It follows a similar suit filed two weeks ago by New York. Both allege that the loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike 2 are essentially gambling, and the class action accuses Valve of “deceptive, casino-style psychological tactics.”

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Live Nation and the DOJ might be ready to settle.

The events giant is reportedly close to settling its federal antitrust lawsuit without having to sell Ticketmaster, though some state attorneys general may decide to push ahead with the case regardless. The settlement plan would require the Ticketmaster subsidiary to make concessions around exclusive venue contracts and amphitheater usage.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
The Video Game History Foundation saved an obscure Japanese game from a copyright troll.

Cookie’s Bustle is an extremely weird PC game released in 1999. And for reasons no one understands, a person by the name Brandon White, through their company Graceware, has been trying to erase all trace of it through non-stop copyright claims. But the VGHF got its lawyers involved and has finally put an end to Graceware’s shenanigans.

We are happy to report that after bringing these facts to Ukie’s attention, Ukie has suspended takedowns for Cookie’s Bustle on behalf of Graceware, SL. This is a big victory for the gaming community, hopefully bringing an end to a rights-squatting campaign that has dragged on for years.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Supreme Court rules 6-3 that Trump’s global tariffs are illegal.

On Friday morning, the court ruled against the Trump administration (pdf) in the case of Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, about whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) gave the president the power to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from more than 100 countries.

The immediate impact of the ruling is not clear, as the president may try to use other justifications for the tariffs and everything that has followed. The NYT, WSJ, and CNBC have more coverage.

Screenshot of the Supreme Court ruling reading “The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope. In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it. IEEPA’s grant of authority to “regulate . . . importation” falls short. IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties. The Government points to no statute in which Congress used the word “regulate” to authorize taxation. And until now no President has read IEEPA to confer such power. We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. “
Screenshot: Supreme Court
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Netflix gives ByteDance three days to stop Seedance AI theft.

Otherwise, the TikTok parent will face “immediate litigation” for copyright infringement of Netflix’s Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters, Squid Game, and Bridgerton franchises:

“Seedance acts as a high-speed piracy engine, generating mass quantities of unauthorized derivative works utilizing Netflix’s iconic characters, worlds, and scripted narratives. Netflix will not stand by and watch ByteDance treat our valued IP as free, public domain clip art.”

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
We’re outside the courthouse where Meta and Google are fighting social media addiction claims.

I’m in downtown Los Angeles where a state judge is hearing the first of several landmark trials about how social media allegedly harmed a teen girl going by K.G.M. We expect to hear from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week.

A shot of the LA Superior Court building, a large white building with a green lawn.
Photo by Lauren Feiner / The Verge
The surprising case for AI judges

Bridget McCormack of the American Arbitration Association on AI-powered courts and the future of law.

Nilay Patel
Everyone is stealing TV

Fed up with increasing subscription prices, viewers embrace rogue streaming boxes.

Janko Roettgers
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Homeland Security’s chilling response to criticism: subpoenaing your Gmail.

A Washington Post report digs into one 67-year-old man’s experience being targeted by a warrantless administrative subpoena that doesn’t need sign off from a judge or jury.

Among their demands, which they wanted dating back to Sept. 1: the day, time and duration of all his online sessions; every associated IP and physical address; a list of each service he used; any alternate usernames and email addresses; the date he opened his account; his credit card, driver’s license and Social Security numbers.