A judge has ruled in favour of Google in a lawsuit against the company, in which it was accused of profiting and doing nothing about animal abuse videos on its video platform, YouTube.
The case (Lady Freethinker v. Google LLC d/b/a YouTube, et al, 21CV390154, Santa Clara Superior Court (San Jose)) began when Lady Freethinker, an animal activist group, sued Google last year, saying that the company was generating ad revenue from animal abuse videos, and was violating federal law that bans depictions of animal cruelty.
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni pointed out that the group only listed claims that violeted state and local laws, including false advertising. He also pointed out that under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, major tech companies such as Google are protected from lawsuits based on user generated content.
“Section 230 clearly states that ‘no cause of action may be brought, and no liability may be imposed under any state or local law that is inconsistent with this section.”