Harvard Crimson Was Entitled to Ban Commenter for What He Claims Were “Anti-Zionist” Comments
From today’s decision by Judge Angel Kelley (D. Mass.) in Affleck v. Harvard Crimson Inc.:
Plaintiff Jonathan Affleck [who has also at times litigated as Joachim Martillo -EV] brings this action against Defendant The Harvard Crimson, Inc…. According to the Complaint, the Crimson … deleted Affleck’s comments on three articles on the Crimson’s website and then suspended Affleck’s ability to post. Affleck claims that the Crimson’s actions violated the First Amendment …, [the Massachusetts Constitution’s free expression provision], and finally, federal and state laws related to common carriage discrimination and public accommodation discrimination….
According to the Complaint, from February 7 to February 10, 2024, Affleck commented, under two different names, 38 times across three articles on the Crimson’s website. The three articles focused on Palestine and the Palestinian people…. [In an earlier case, Affleck] “… represent[ed] that each defendant disabled or suspended his account on their respective platforms because he posted content that each defendant deemed to be anti-Zionist.”
The court concluded that 47 U.S.C. § 230 precludes all of Affleck’s claims:
“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of … any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2). This provision “‘precludes courts from entertaining claims that would p
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