• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 19, 2024

Siding with Meta, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who alleged that the social platform wrongly displayed ads that misappropriated his identity to sell CBD gummies.

In an opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Williams in Wilmington, Delaware said the allegations in Huckabee's complaint, even if proven true, wouldn't show that Meta knew the ads were fake.

“Governor Huckabee has failed to make any allegations that would allow the reasonable inference that Meta had any 'fault,'” Williams wrote.

It's not clear yet whether Huckabee -- who was recently tapped to serve as ambassador to Israel -- will appeal.

The ruling came in a battle dating to June, when Huckabee sued Meta over phony ads -- including one that linked to a fake Fox News site. The complaint included a claim that Meta violated an Arkansas right-of-publicity law that gives people the right to control the commercial use of their names and images.

Meta argued the case should be dismissed at an early stage for several reasons, including that the Arkansas right-of-publicity law only imposes liability when companies knowingly misappropriate someone's name or likeness.

Williams accepted that argument and dismissed the case with prejudice on that basis.

Meta had also argued that it should prevail under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which immunizes web companies from liability for ads created by third parties.

Williams rejected that argument on the grounds that the 3rd Circuit recently curbed Section 230's protections in a lawsuit involving TikTok.

Williams' ruling on that point didn't ultimately affect the outcome of the case. But the ruling indicates that the 3rd Circuit ruling against TikTok effectively gutted Section 230 in the three states covered by the 3rd Circuit -- Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

“The message this judge got is Section 230 is a dead letter,” Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman tells MediaPost.

TikTok said this week it may ask the Supreme Court to review the 3rd Circuit decision.