Skip to main content

A Grindr harassment suit could change the legal landscape for tech — and free speech


A Grindr harassment suit could change the legal landscape for tech — and free speech

Months of harassment led Matthew Herrick to file a lawsuit against the dating app — and he's using laws meant to protect consumers from dangerous products to do so.

Matthew Herrick, a restaurant worker and aspiring actor in New York, claimed that for months an ex-boyfriend used the dating app Grindr to harass him.
His former partner created fake profiles on the app to impersonate Herrick and then direct men to show up at Herrick’s home and the restaurant where he worked asking for sex, sometimes more than a dozen times per day. Herrick took action against his ex, filing 14 police reports.
He also filed a lawsuit against Grindr in 2017. The alleged harassment continued for months, even after Herrick obtained a temporary restraining order against Grindr that required the company to disable the impersonating profiles.
Herrick’s story echoes the online harassment that many people have experienced, often with little to no legal consequences for the companies that created the technology in question. A 1996 law designed to foster free speech online generally protects companies from liability.
But Herrick is pursuing an unusual legal theory as he continues to push back against Grindr, arguing that tech companies should face greater accountability for what happens on their platforms. His lawsuit alleges that the software developers who write code for Grindr have been negligent, producing an app that’s defective in its design and that is “fundamentally unsafe” and “unreasonably dangerous” — echoing language that’s more typically used in lawsuits about, say, a faulty kitchen appliance or a defective car part.
If successful, the lawsuit could bring about a significant legal change to the risks tech companies face for what happens on their platforms, adding to growing public and political pressure for change.
“This is a case about a company abdicating responsibility for a dangerous product it released into the stream of commerce,” his lawsuit argues, adding: “Grindr’s inaction enables the weaponization of its products and services.”

SOFTWARE, HARD PROBLEM

Lawsuits over product-related injuries or harm fall under a category of the law known as products liability, which exist to hold manufacturers responsible for defective items they put into the “stream of commerce” and ultimately to keep people safe.
Those laws generally haven’t been applied to software such as smartphone apps, but lawyers for Herrick aim to do just that — a development that could reshape consumers’ relationship with software, alter speech protections online and put pressure on Silicon Valley to find flaws in products before introducing them to the world.
“Products liability started as people thinking, ‘Oh, my stove burnt me,’ or, ‘This saw cut my hand,’” said Christopher Robinette, a law professor at Widener University who specializes in that area of the law. “But as people have started to purchase more information-related items, we have to reconsider how we classify those things.”
A federal appeals court is scheduled to consider the subject on Monday, weighing whether Herrick’s case should be allowed to move forward after a federal district judge threw it out last year. A ruling is likely within a few months.
The tech industry is pushing back on Herrick, saying in court papers that he is trying to artfully skirt the protections afforded free speech online.
Carrie Goldberg, one of Herrick’s attorneys, said they decided to pursue the argument out of frustration with Grindr’s failure to add product features to reduce harassment.
“Grindr has created a defective product,” she said in an interview. “It was very foreseeable that their product could be used this way.”
Grindr said in a statement on Thursday that it is committed to creating a safe and secure environment, and that any fraudulent account is a clear violation of its terms of service. Its staff removes offending profiles as appropriate, the company said.

THE UNTOUCHABLES

In court, Grindr is relying on the more sweeping defense allowed by the 1996 law known as the Communications Decency Act. The act’s Section 230 has been interpreted by courts to immunize internet services from liability for content posted online by third parties — whether ex-boyfriends or otherwise.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Report: World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car

Visualizing The Power Of The World's Supercomputers