If the U.S. Supreme Court blocks social media laws in Florida and Texas, it could have a chilling effect on states trying to regulate online content, a panel of experts said Tuesday. Speaking at a Federalist Society webinar event, panelists said a ruling bolstering the tech industry’s First Amendment rights could jeopardize the constitutionality of laws aimed at regulating kids’ online safety. The Supreme Court held oral argument Monday in NetChoice v. Paxton (22-555) and Moody v. NetChoice (22-277) (see 2402260051).

California’s social media transparency law, AB-587, violates the First Amendment’s “stringent prohibition on viewpoint discrimination,” said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh in a Feb. 21 amicus brief (docket 24-271) at the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court. Volokh’s brief supports X’s appeal to reverse the district court’s denial of its injunction to block California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) from enforcing AB-587 (see 2401190038).

Palo Alto Networks made misleading statements and failed to disclose material facts in violation of securities laws from Aug. 18 through Feb. 20, alleged a class action Monday (docket 5:24-cv-01156) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose against the company and three executives. Palo Alto shares fell 28% Feb. 21 to $261.97 on the company's disclosure of worsening Q2 results.

Keyvan Samini, president-chief financial officer of Mobix Labs, a U.S. Navy contractor, seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction for the second time this month to enjoin Apple from restoring external access to his iCloud email account that was hacked Jan. 30 by John Doe bad actors from Uzbekistan, said Samini’s ex parte application Monday (docket 8:24-cv-00249) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana.

Walmart “sympathizes” with Risa Potters and other fraud victims, but her claims that the retailer should have done more to protect her from a third-party fraudster “are meritless and should be dismissed,” said its memorandum of points and authorities Friday (docket 1:22-cv-0337) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles in support of its motion to dismiss Potters' December fraud class action (see 2312110039).

It’s possible social media platforms could be considered common carriers when delivering emails or direct messages, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative justices said Monday.

Comcast customer Vince Estevez and his wife experienced identity theft and were victims of financial fraud resulting from cloud computing company Citrix Systems’ Oct. 10 data breach, alleged their class action Friday (docket 2:24-cv-00800) against Citrix and its customer Comcast in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was supposed to deter unauthorized uses of copyrighted movies and music, but 25 years after its enactment, the statute’s Section 1201's reach is “virtually limitless,” said the reply brief Friday (docket 23-5159) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit of three plaintiff-appellants challenging the government on Section 1201's anti-trafficking and anti-circumvention provisions (see 2311300055).

The plaintiffs in a privacy class action, In Re Apple Data Privacy Litigation, don’t say “what data was collected from them, or what that data would have revealed,” said Apple’s reply Friday (docket 5:22-cv-07069) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose in support of its motion to dismiss.

The FCC faces three petitions for review, all filed Friday, in separate circuits, challenging the lawfulness of the commission’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act. Nexstar Media Group filed its petition (docket 24-60088) in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Beasley Media Group and Tri-State Communications filed their joint petition (docket 24-10535) in the 11th Circuit, and Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri filed its petition (docket 24-1380) in the 8th Circuit.