Procedural concerns could complicate a case at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a New York law requiring affordable broadband. At oral argument Thursday in Manhattan, Judge Richard Sullivan grilled parties on a procedural maneuver they used to move the case to the 2nd Circuit from the trial court. Sullivan asked New York’s attorney tough questions on the state’s argument that its law isn’t preempted.

Academy Medical, the defendant property owner that a T-Mobile and Crown Castle complaint alleges blocked Crown Castle from upgrading the cell tower leased on its property for Dish Network’s 5G network buildout (see 2211300001), wants the complaint dismissed for failure to state a claim, said its motion Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-00910) in U.S. District Court for New Mexico.

Google, Facebook and Twitter knowingly provided “substantial assistance” to Islamic State group attacks, and the Supreme Court should affirm a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding Twitter liable for abetting terrorists, respondents argued Wednesday in Twitter v. Taamneh (docket 21-1496) (see 2212060063).

Metro by T-Mobile’s “intentional participation” in a SIM card swap scheme, or its “recklessness and gross negligence” in failing to adequately protect employee credentials and a customer’s personal identifying information, led the customer to lose $280,000 worth of cryptocurrency due to identity theft, said a complaint (docket 2:23-cv-22) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Fort Myers Wednesday.

The California Public Utilities Commission imposed a 7 cents-per-minute cap on incarcerated person calling service rates “without first obtaining evidence on which to set a reasonable ceiling,” Securus Technologies counsel Russell Blau of Morgan Lewis told the California 2nd District Court of Appeals in oral argument Thursday on Securus’ petition to set aside the CPUC’s order (see 2205120037). One judge confronted him about why the company didn’t insist on submitting evidence, or demand that the CPUC hold an evidentiary hearing.

What’s “unique” to the Biden administration and the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division leadership “is this laser focus” on allegedly anticompetitive behavior in the tech industry, Fenwick associate Kaylynn Moss told a Fenwick webinar Wednesday on antitrust litigation trends in 2022 and expectations for 2023. DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Jonathan Kanter and FTC Chair Lina Khan made no secret of their intentions to “target” the tech industry, “and have actually carried this out through litigation,” she said.

Plaintiffs in two tax filing website cases against the Meta Pixel tracking tool filed a joint opposition Tuesday (docket 3:22-cv-3580) to Meta’s request to consider whether their cases should be related to and consolidated with the consolidated Meta Pixel healthcare cases (see 2301100005).

The Communications Decency Act’s Section 230 is “no shield” for the design, marketing and operations of social media platforms “that are harmful to youth,” alleged Kent School District No. 415 in suburban Seattle in a complaint Monday (docket 2:23-cv-00045) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington. It names ByteDance, Google, Meta, Snap and their various subsidiaries, including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, as defendants.

A federal court refused to dismiss a challenge to South Carolina courts’ data scraping ban Monday. The U.S. District Court of South Carolina lifted a stay on discovery in light of its decision to proceed with the case (see 2211300055). It’s an “important victory” in the First Amendment case (docket 3:2022-cv-01007), said the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit with NAACP on behalf of the NAACP South Carolina State Conference.

Bangladesh-based websites TopSocial24 and SocialBD24 facilitate “deceptive and inauthentic interactions” through fake LinkedIn accounts for the purpose of misleading the social networking platform’s members, alleged a fraud complaint (docket 5:23-cv-00110) filed by LinkedIn in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose Tuesday. The complaint seeks injunctive relief and damages against TopSocial24, SocialBD24, MD Raju Ahamed, Golam Mostafa and DOES 1-10 for breach of contract, fraud and deceit and intentional interference with contract.