Ninth Circuit Easily Rejects (Most of) a “Predator Access” Lawsuit on Section 230 Grounds–Doe (KB) v. Facebook

This is a FOSTA-and-more claim against Instagram. As I previously summarized, the plaintiff claimed (1) Instagram is a “breeding ground” for sex trafficking, and (2) Instagram’s algorithms matched the criminal with the victim. The plaintiff’s lawyers tried the full range of now-standard Section 230 workaround attempts, arguing everything from design defects to incomplete reporting mechanisms. The district court provided this recap of the case: Plaintiff Jane Doe alleges that she was a victim of horrific sex trafficking crimes on Instagram, a social media platform owned by Defendant Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”), where she was repeatedly sold for unlawful sex acts over the course of a year. Her trafficker was later convicted in a criminal trial and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Doe now sues Meta, alleging that it facilitated and financially benefited from her sex trafficking, in violation of the federal civil sex trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1595. Doe also asserts products…

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