• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

Meta Platforms is urging a federal appeals court to reject former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's bid to revive claims that the tech company displayed CBD gummy ads that misappropriated his name and image.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Williams in Delaware threw out Huckabee's lawsuit, essentially ruling that even if the allegations were true, they wouldn't show that Meta was liable for the ads. Williams specifically ruled that the allegations wouldn't support an inference that Meta knew the Huckabee's image was used without his authorization.

Meta is now asking the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Williams' decision.

The company argues in papers filed this week that Huckabee's complaint "failed to plausibly allege" that Meta knew he hadn't authorized the use of his likeness in the ads.

Meta's new papers come in a battle dating to July 2024, when Huckabee -- currently U.S.ambassador to Israel -- sued Meta over phony endorsements in ads, including one that linked to a fake Fox News site.

Williams initially dismissed Huckabee's claims last year.

Huckabee then claimed in a proposed amended complaint that Meta acted recklessly -- in part, because author J.K. Rowling, actress Jennifer Aniston, skateboarder Tony Hawk and other well-known people had criticized the use of their images in fake CBD endorsements.

“For more than four years now, Meta has known that public figures, such as the governor, have had their names, images, and likenesses used to promote CBD products without their knowledge and consent,” Huckabee alleged in the proposed amended complaint.

Williams again sided against Huckabee and dismissed the case.

"That Facebook, 'one of the most dominant social media companies in the world' ... has previously published a handful of images that were used without authorization hardly allows for the reasonable inference that Meta knew that the images of plaintiff were also used without authorization," he wrote at the time.

Huckabee recently asked the 3rd Circuit to reverse that ruling, arguing that he should have been able to proceed with his claim that Meta violated Arkansas's misappropriation law, the Frank Broyles Publicity Rights Protection Act. That law, named for University of Arkansas coach Frank Broyles, gives state residents the right to control the commercial use of their names and images.

Meta counters that the Frank Broyles law only imposes liability on network service providers if they have "actual knowledge" of an unauthorized commercial use, or were "aware of facts and circumstances making unauthorized use apparent."

The company argues that Huckabee's allegations regarding other celebrities' complaints, even if true, wouldn't suggest that Meta knew the ads misappropriating former governor's identity were fake.

The 3rd Circuit hasn't yet set a date for oral arguments.