United States of America: Northern District Court of California issued ruling in lawsuit against Twitter over alleged failure to remove child sexual abuse material

On 11 December 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the final claim in a lawsuit against X Corp. (formerly Twitter), which alleged the platform knowingly benefited from sex trafficking by failing to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The court relied on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Does 1-6 v. Reddit, Inc., which held that platforms are only liable under federal sex trafficking law if they actively and knowingly participate in trafficking, not merely for inaction after notification. As the plaintiffs’ claims did not meet this standard, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, ending the litigation.