Scammy Ad Lawsuits Keep Vexing the Courts–Huckabee v. Meta

Scammers used Mike Huckabee’s name and image to hawk CBD products in Facebook ads. I’m not in the ad’s target audience, so it blows my mind that anyone would buy anything because Huckabee touted it (or was falsely claimed to). The question in this case is whether Facebook is liable for the scammy ads. The lower court dismissed the case due to the scienter requirements of Arkansas’ publicity rights statute. At the same time, the lower court rejected Section 230 due to the atrocious Anderson v. TikTok ruling [FN]. Huckabee sought a reconsideration of the court’s initial opinion but got the same result. FN: In the Third Circuit, publicity rights claims are not covered by Section 230 due to the IP exception. The lower court didn’t address that issue, but Section 230 was unlikely to govern this case either way. On appeal, with two Trump appointees on the panel (including Judge Bove), the Third Circuit revives Huckabee’s case in an inappropriately brief and inadequately reasoned…