Emmett Soldanti, a cafe owner in Somersworth, much like any other business owner, used Facebook-owned Instagram for advertising his cafe.
But after the Big Tech social media network ended up suspending his account without any warning, he went to the court and sued Facebook.
The lower court dismissed his case, after which the New Hampshire Supreme Court today ruled stating that the judge was wrong to dismiss the case.
We obtained the court’s opinion for you here.
The account of Soldanti’s cafe was shut down back in 2018 and the owner was seeking nearly $10,000 in damages as well as the restoration of his account.
Facebook, however, argued saying that it was not to blame and that it was immune from claims based on Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act.
When a judge ruled in favor of Facebook, the cafe owner said that him not being able to use small claims court meant that the social media network violated its terms of service.
As a result, he went on to appeal in the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The court then said, “We simply cannot determine based upon the pleadings at this stage in the proceeding whether Facebook is immune from liability” based on the act.
That said, the supreme court stated that the claim may be ultimately dismissed because of the merits or the provision under the act but admitted that it should not have been dismissed.
