''Young v. Facebook, Inc.'', 790 F. Supp. 2d 1110, is a ''

pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, or a defendant in criminal cases, rather than have representation from counsel or an attorney. The ...

'' internet law case in which the plaintiff sued the social network

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

following the termination of her

user account A user is a person who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified to the system by a username (or user name). Some software products provide services to other systems and have no direct end use ...

. In her original complaint, the plaintiff, Karen Beth Young, alleged violation of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights,

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, breach of the

implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing In contract law, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a general presumption that the parties to a contract will deal with each other honestly, fairly, and in good faith, so as to not destroy the right of the other party or parti ...

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

, and fraud. In the U.S. District Court of Northern California, Facebook moved to dismiss the claim, and on October 25, 2010, presiding Judge Jeremy Fogel granted the motion to dismiss with leave to amend.''Young v. Facebook, Inc.''
No. 5:10-cv-03579-JF/PVT (N.D. Cal. 2010). Redirecting her complaint, Young alleged violations of the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

and related state laws on disability, as well as breach of contract and negligence. Again, Facebook moved to dismiss, and Judge Fogel dismissed the case without leave to amend.

Background

Karen Beth Young of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

created an account on Facebook in February 2010 in order to connect with friends, family, and strangers.
Young v. Facebook Original Complaint
', (N.D. Ca. 2010). Young's mother and sister were both fighting breast cancer at the time and Young created two pages to promote cancer awareness. She quickly amassed over 4,000 friends by sending friend invites to others supportive of the cancer cause and by receiving requests from strangers who were interested in and concerned about her cancer patient support efforts. Young then came across a page praying for the death of U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, and she spoke out against the page. She was then subjected to "hatred, violence, discrimination, threats, pornography, kkk, violence and personal attacks ." In conjunction with her public opposition of the hate page and her allegedly "spammy" activity, her profile was disabled. Young then traveled from Maryland to Facebook's headquarters in California and sought reactivation of her account. In testimony, she stated that she did not receive "human interaction" with a Facebook account representative at Facebook's offices, and had to provide a written message to a receptionist for forwarding to an unknown recipient. She filled out a complaint form and was not allowed to speak with a Facebook account representative. Later, she received Facebook email stating her account was reactivated, but she was not provided any opportunity to discuss her account details so she traveled back to Maryland. Shortly thereafter, Young again found her account disabled. According to Facebook, Young had engaged in activity that violated Facebook's statement of rights and responsibilities, although Young states she did nothing to prompt the second disabling of her account
Motion to Dismiss by Facebook
'. which resulted in permanent termination of her account. Young then drove back to California to file a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

in the Northern District of California.

Original complaint and motion to dismiss

Young claimed six causes of action in her first complaint against Facebook; a violation of her

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Fourteenth Amendment rights, a breach of contract, a breach of implied covenant of faith and fair dealing, negligence, and fraud.

Civil rights violation

Young argued that Facebook deprived her of equal protection under the law by terminating her account, and she sought to state this claim under . She pointed out her disability. She claimed that Facebook was a government actor and acted "under

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

of state law". She stated that Facebook hosted the profiles of several State and government departments, demonstrating a contract between Facebook and the state. However, Facebook argued that it was a private entity, and the court agreed, arguing that "Young shows no relationship between Facebook's government contracts and the particular actions that she alleges violated her rights".

Breach of contract

Young referenced Facebook's own statement of rights and responsibilities that forbids users against posting content that is "hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity" and claimed that Facebook acted in "deliberate indifference to the rights of the Plaintiff". However, Facebook has long held a policy against any policing of content in its statement of rights and responsibilities.Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
The court agreed and stated "while these provisions place restrictions on users' behavior, they do not create affirmative obligations".

Breach of implied covenant of faith and fair dealing

Young claimed that Facebook broke the

by failing to provide the adequate safety services it advertised and by ultimately deactivating the account without "human interaction". Facebook claimed that it never agreed to provide safety services and that the covenant of good faith could not alter that fact. Furthermore, Facebook was also protected under

Section 230 In the United States, Section 230 is a section of the Communications Act of 1934 that was enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which is Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and generally provides immunity for on ...

of the

Communications Decency Act The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was the United States Congress's first notable attempt to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In the 1997 landmark case '' Reno v. ACLU'', the United States Supreme Court unanimously stru ...

which provides immunity for

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s who publish information generated by third parties."" The court sided with Facebook on this point as well, stating that Facebook had sent Young an email notifying her of the account termination, in accordance with its policies, upholding its contract.

Negligence and fraud

The plaintiff alleged negligence and fraud on the part of Facebook. However, the court found that the plaintiff did not show that Facebook had a duty on which to base the negligence claim, and that the plaintiff's claim of fraud lacked enough specificity to proceed with legal

pleading In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement of one party's claims or defenses in response to another party's complaint(s) in a civil action. The parties' pleadings in a case define t ...

Holding

Given the rationale, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted Facebook's motion to dismiss the claim with leave to amend.

Motion to dismiss amended complaint

The plaintiff amended her complaint to include claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and related state laws. Facebook moved to dismiss the plaintiff's complaints, and Judge Fogel granted the motion on May 17, 2011, finding that Facebook was not a physical place for the purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act, "despite its frequent use of terms such as 'posts' and 'walls'". Judge Fogel denied leave to amend.

Reception

Eric Goldman, an internet law professor at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

, noted that