Nunes

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT; DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Re: Dkt. Nos. 68, 73, 85,

Twitter contends it cannot be liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for the unwanted tweets it delivered via text message to the plaintiffs cell phone, because it should not be considered the one responsible for sending those text messages. Twitter also argues that, even if it could be liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, it would be immunized from liability under the Communications Decency Act. Because both of these arguments are wrong, the plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment is granted, and Twitter’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment is denied.

I.

Twitter is a social networking platform. It gives people a vehicle to express themselves online in short soundbites called “tweets” that are limited to 140 characters. By default, any Twitter user can sign up to “follow” any other Twitter user, which means Twitter will cause the follower to receive all tweets the author publishes. When an author publishes tweets, he’s often publishing them to a wide audience, and he often has no personal…