James Grimmelmann

Is it an antitrust violation for Twitter to block Mastodon links?

Under current law, a good starting point is LiveUniverse v. MySpace, No. CV 06-6994-AHM (RZx), 2007 U.S. Dist LEXIS 43739, 2007 WL 6865852 (N.D. Cal. June 4, 2007), which held that MySpace could disable user-posted links to vidilife.com. Per the court, it was not a Sherman Act § 2 violation because MySpace had no duty to deal with vidiLife, and because MySpace wasn’t preventing vidiLife from competing in the relevant market.

Dec 17, 2022 at 4:07pmWeb
Show threadexcited for the mastodon riseDec 17, 2022

@jtlg is there any chance that can be revisited with greater understanding? Linking is key to exposure, and without exposure there is no competition.

What laws would we need to enshrine #adversarial_interop ? Have you read @doctorow on the concept?

Show threadStan FletcherDec 17, 2022
@jtlg History tells us that he doesn't care about laws and regulations. He waits to get sued and/or sanctioned, pays the fines and moves on like they never happened.
Show threadFrank VehafricDec 17, 2022
@jtlg Doesn't it matter that mastodon is not a commercial enterprise? I don't know antitrust law so that's why I'm asking.
Show threadrobert_said_whatDec 17, 2022
@jtlg @TinaThePerson no it’s a private company. Elon could just buy it and turn it off if he wanted to. Anyone that is on Twitter is allowed there because he either wants them there or is ambivalent to their presence, anyone who can speak there can only do so when he wants them to or because he doesn’t perceive them as worth his concern. When that changes those people are banned and silenced on his platform
Show threadrpdavisDec 18, 2022
@jtlg @jnsheff As an old, retired, a/t lawyer myself I’ve been wondering about a different question: Is it an a/t violation for Twitter to label all links to Mastodon as being malicious/dangerous. In all the cases I’ve seen so far it seems pretty clear the label’s false. And it seems designed to create the impression that Mastodon is a dangerous place. Given that Mastodon competes with Twitter, and that Twitter has market power (maybe?), …?