Amazon’s popular streaming platform Twitch has officially responded to a $25 million lawsuit filed against them claiming damages for suggestive content present on the platform, filing a SLAPP motion, according to Dexerto.
Earlier this summer, we shared the story of plaintiff Erik Estavillo’s lawsuit and claims against Twitch, claiming that he suffered damages due to Twitch making him suffer through medical problems related to sex addiction, because of the content and algorithms on the site.
On August 18th, the legal team for Twitch have requested for the claims to be struck under Anti- SLAPP laws, which are intended to protect businesses and individuals from baseless legal proceedings, stating that the plaintiff’s complaint “on the grounds that Plaintiff’s Complaint against Twitch is subject to a special motion to strike under California Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16.”
The 425.15 code states — “a disturbing increase in lawsuits brought primarily to chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and petition for the redress of grievances.” Twitch says that the claims that Estavillo brought forth “violate California’s SLAPP statute, C.C.P. § 425.16. Plaintiff’s Complaint attempts to limit Twitch’s right to decide what content to allow or not allow on its service, which falls squarely within Twitch’s protected constitutional right of free speech.”
“Fortunately, California’s SLAPP statute provides a mechanism for protecting against abusive lawsuits such as this one,” Twitch continues. “Because Plaintiff’s Complaint arises directly from content available in a public forum and acts in furtherance of speech about matters of public interest, the SLAPP statute shifts the burden to him to present admissible evidence substantiating his claims.”
The streaming platform also points out that the complain does not meet this burden “establish a probability that he will prevail on his claims,” because “Plaintiff’s Complaint is barred in its entirety by the federal Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)” and “Even if not barred by the Communications Decency Act, Plaintiff’s Complaint fails to state a viable claim under California law”, adding that it’s TOS state it “takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any User Content or for any loss or damage resulting therefrom, nor is Twitch liable for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, p****graphy, or profanity you may encounter when using the Twitch Services.”
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