The FTC’s “claimed emergency” in its Thursday evening motion before the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court for an injunction pending appeal blocking Microsoft from consummating its Activision Blizzard buy “is entirely of its own creation,” Microsoft and Activision told the 9th Circuit in an opposition filing Friday (docket 23-15992). The FTC asked the 9th Circuit to act on the motion by 11:59 p.m. PDT because that’s when the district court’s temporary restraining order enjoining the merger expires.

Action is needed by 11:59 p.m. PDT Friday night on the FTC’s emergency motion before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an injunction pending appeal blocking Microsoft from consummating its Activision Blizzard buy, said the agency’s motion late Thursday evening (docket 23-15992). Without 9th Circuit action on the emergency motion, Microsoft/Activision may close their deal anytime after 11:59 p.m. PDT Friday when the district court’s modified temporary restraining order expires, said the FTC.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley for Northern California in San Francisco denied the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy from being consummated, said her signed opinion Tuesday (docket 3:23-cv-02880). The FTC hasn’t shown that it’s likely to succeed on its assertion that Microsoft/Activision “will probably pull” Call of Duty from Sony PlayStation, or that its ownership of Activision content “will substantially lessen competition in the video game library subscription and cloud gaming markets,” said Corley’s heavily redacted opinion.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe denied DOJ’s motion to stay his July 4 injunction pending an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said his memorandum ruling Monday (docket 3:22-cv-01213). The injunction bars dozens of Biden administration defendants from conversing with social media platforms for the purpose of suppressing right-leaning content.

DOJ, within hours of the denial of its motion for a stay in the injunction that bars dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social media companies for the purpose of suppressing right-leaning content, filed an emergency motion Monday at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (docket 23-30445) for a stay pending appeal.

DOJ seeks a ruling by noon CDT Monday for U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe to stay the preliminary injunction he ordered July 4 to bar most of the nearly 70 Biden administration defendants in the case brought by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri from communicating with social media platforms about content moderation, said DOJ’s motion Thursday (docket 3:22-cv-01213).

DOJ is appealing to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the preliminary injunction order signed Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe, enjoining roughly five dozen Biden administration defendants from conversing with social media companies about perceived content suppression, said DOJ’s notice of appeal late Wednesday (docket 3:22-cv-01213).

A California state court delayed enforcement of California Privacy Right Act (CPRA) regulations Friday. The CPRA had required the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to start enforcing regulations implementing the sequel to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by Saturday.

Arkansas’ SB-396, the state’s social media age verification statute that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law April 12, “is the latest attempt in a long line of government efforts to restrict new forms of expression based on concerns that they harm minors,” alleged NetChoice in a complaint Thursday (docket 5:23-cv-05105) in U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the statute unconstitutional and enjoin Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) from enforcing it.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved a request for an en banc rehearing of Consumers' Research's challenge of the FCC's method for funding the USF. In March, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously against Consumers' Research, saying the FCC "has not violated the private nondelegation doctrine because it wholly subordinates" the Universal Service Administrative Co., and Congress "supplied the FCC with intelligible principles when it tasked the agency with overseeing" USF.