Speakers from different advocacy groups clashed during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar Wednesday over what controls the courts and lawmakers should place on social media companies amid what the multitude of pending lawsuits claim is a youth mental health crisis fueled by internet addiction.

Cognizant Technology’s human content moderation system, designed to remove offensive social media content, causes or contributes to numerous mental and physical illnesses, injuries and conditions, for individuals subjected to “long-term unmitigated exposure to such content,” alleged a fraud complaint Tuesday (docket 8:23-cv-02607) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon for Southern New York in Manhattan granted Samsung’s May 1 motion to compel plaintiff Antonio Lewis’ fraud claims to arbitration (see 2305020029), according to her signed opinion and order Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-10882). The judge also denied Samsung’s request for dismissal. Instead, the case is stayed pending the conclusion of proceedings before the arbitrator. Rochon held that dismissal would have opened an avenue for Lewis to appeal, and that would have delayed the arbitration, with the associated costs and uncertainties.

Plaintiff Philip Woods moved U.S. District Judge Steven Logan for Arizona in Phoenix to stay his Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) case against Vivek 2024, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign committee, pending resolution of the forthcoming 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case in the “substantially similar” Howard v. Republican National Committee (docket 2:23-cv-00993), according to his unopposed motion Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-01958).

Spectrum removed to U.S. District Court for Hawaii Tuesday a second amended negligence class action filed Oct. 13 in Hawaii’s 1st Circuit Court in which 38 plaintiffs seek to hold Spectrum and Hawaiian Telcom, among dozens of named landowner, municipality and utility defendants, at least partially liable for causing the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire that killed more than 100 and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.

Here are Communications Litigation Today's top stories from last week, in case you missed them. Each can be found by searching on its title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Plaintiff Dominic Fiacco’s claims against the University of Rochester in a fraud case (docket 6:23-cv-97200) involving Progress Software Corp.'s May MOVEit data breach “shares extremely limited factual overlap” with centralized actions in In Re: MOVEit Customer Data Security Breach Litigation. So said Fiacco’s memorandum Monday (docket 3083) before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in support of his motion to vacate conditional transfer order 7 (CTO-7) with respect to his case.

Defendants defrauded Google and others by creating over 60 fake accounts so they could submit thousands of fraudulent copyright infringement notices against their competitors, alleged a complaint Monday (docket 4:23-cv-05824) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose.

Three defendants identified as Does 1-3 have used Google trademarks related to AI to “lure unsuspecting victims into downloading malware onto their computers,” alleged a trademark infringement lawsuit Monday (docket 5:23-cv-05823) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose.

Though the AirTag’s intended purpose is to find lost items like keys or luggage, “its popularity has soared as the preeminent tool for stalking and abuse due to its efficacy, low price point, and ease of use,” said the opposition Monday (docket 3:22-cv-07668) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco of 38 AirTag user plaintiffs to Apple’s Oct. 27 motion to dismiss their Oct. 6 first amended complaint (see 2310300030).