Under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate their services by removing posts that, for instance, are obscene or violate the services’ own standards, so long as they are acting in “good faith.” The law also generally exempts internet companies from liability for the material that users post. But Trump and some other politicians have long argued that Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have abused that protection and should lose their immunity — or at least have to earn it by satisfying requirements set by the government. Trump was suspended from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after his followers stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6. The companies cited concerns that he would incite further violence. Nonetheless, Tr...
The music and gaming industries have increasingly converged over the past two years, and while Fortnite led the way with in-game performances by Travis Scott and Marshmello, Roblox — where players don’t just play games, but create their own — has recently grown its profile as well. Lil Nas X performed the first-ever live virtual concert in Roblox in December, where he debuted new track “Holiday,” sold virtual merchandise like a cowboy hat and offered a behind-the-scenes interview, and Roblox says the experience drew 36 million visits. In May, Larsson drew 4 million visitors to the Roblox launch party for an expanded edition of her album Poster Girl, which was set in a virtual rendering of her Swedish lake house. A major selling point for these music-gaming par...
Roc-A-Fella was founded in 1995 by Dash, Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, each of whom own a third of the company. Dash writes that he does not oppose the preliminary restraining order preventing him from selling the Reasonable Doubt copyright, “as I do not own the copyright nor have I ever represented that I do.” The Roc-A-Fella lawsuit allegations are based on a press release promoting the Reasonable Doubt NFT sale, but Dash claims that the press release for the since-cancelled auction was incorrect. Dash says that what he was actually attempting to sell as an NFT was his one-third ownership of Roc-A-Fella, which he says Jay-Z tried to buy at a low price in March (and suggests that the lawsuit was Jay-Z’s form of revenge). As such, Dash writes ...
The company has made hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of creators, including by requiring users to pay every time they upload music — taking advantage of largely young people’s lack of understanding about copyright — and then they take virtually no action to prevent repeat infringement or alert users to the risks they are taking. The fact that mostly children, who would have no idea whether Roblox has covered its legal bases, are the ones who are being taken advantage of is particularly egregious When confronted with the need to license in order to protect itself and its users, Roblox thus far has been defiant. Not only have they refused to pay for the songs they know are on the platform, they are trying to hide behind a misinterpretation of the DMCA to avoid liabil...