Tag: lawsuits

Judge Tosses Lawsuit Over State Investigations into Texas Teachers’ Posts About Charlie Kirk

Following the murder of conservative icon Charlie Kirk in 2025, The Gateway Pundit reported that more than 100 educators across the state of Texas faced investigations for their vile, hateful, and violent content celebrating his assassination.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) announced that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) began the investigations into teachers who cheered Kirk’s murder and potentially incited additional violence online.

In a strongly worded letter to superintendents, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath condemned the educators’ despicable behavior, noting that such conduct may constitute violations of the Educators’ Code of Ethics.

Not wanting to be held accountable for their behavior, in January 2026,  the Texas American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT) filed a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court against the Texas Education Agency and Commissioner Morath, asking a judge to stop the state investigations so they can be as grotesque on social media as they want.

Texas AFT, along with the national AFT president, the far-left radical Randi Weingarten,  and Texas president Zeph Capo, claimed Morath’s letter created a “vague, overbroad crackdown on off-duty political speech, chilled teachers, and led to leave, reprimands, doxxing, a temporary ‘do not hire’ flag,” and at least one firing.

The state, however, argued the letter was not a new policy and pointed to existing ethics rules. Districts, not TEA, made most employment decisions.

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Lawsuit: Elon Musk’s xAI Trained Grok AI Using Child Pornography

A woman identified as “Jane Doe” sued Elon Musk’s xAI this week, alleging the company trained its Grok AI chatbot on child pornography depicting her, in what appears to be the first case accusing xAI of training its AI on child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Ars Technica reports that the proposed class-action lawsuit filed against Musk’s xAI, now part of SpaceX, centers on abuse Doe suffered as a preschooler in the early 2000s, when adult men raped her to produce images later sold to pedophiles online. Those images were hashed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, groups that track known child pornography so it can be identified and removed wherever it resurfaces.

Doe gets alerts through the U.S. Department of Justice Victim Notification System whenever her abuse material turns up somewhere new. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection told her that AI-generated CSAM depicting her had shown up on xAI. According to the complaint, offenders on online forums discussed “creating AI generated CSAM of Plaintiff and other similarly situated known, legacy, victims of CSAM.”

The lawsuit claims xAI stores images Grok generates and reuses them to further train the model. A press release from Doe’s lawyers described the material as “that same material,” referring to the CSAM depicting her that investigators say fed into Grok’s outputs. The complaint itself alleges that “CSAM depicting Plaintiff with its longstanding well-known hash values has been used as a part of the dataset used by xAI.”

Breitbart News previously reported on AI training datasets that were found to contain child pornography:

The Stanford Internet Observatory, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and other anti-abuse charities, conducted a study that found more than 3,200 images of suspected child sexual abuse in the AI database LAION. LAION, an index of online images and captions, has been instrumental in training leading AI image-makers such as Stable Diffusion.

This discovery has raised alarms across various sectors, including schools and law enforcement. The child pornography has enabled AI systems to produce explicit and realistic imagery of fake children and transform social media photos of real teens into deepfake nudes. Previously, it was believed that AI tools produced abusive imagery by combining adult pornography with benign photos of kids. However, the direct inclusion of explicit child images in training datasets presents a more direct and disturbing reality.

Much of Doe’s legal argument turns on how Grok’s terms of service handle user content. The complaint says Grok treats public posts on X, along with the outputs Grok itself generates, as training data by default. As the filing puts it, “Because Grok’s terms treat public X posts and Grok’s own outputs as training data by default, publicly posting an image does not just expose it to viewers, but also feeds [it] directly into the pipeline xAI uses to train and improve its model and thereby generate further images.” xAI filters violent content out of its training data, but its terms do not specifically exclude CSAM, non-consensual intimate imagery, or other sexual or inappropriate material.

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Pennsylvania Sues Snapchat Over Lack of Age Verification

Child safety is an extremely powerful weapon used to force private companies to implement age verification digital ID checks and, in some cases, change the design of their platforms. And once this is done, it’s not clear that children are any safer, but one thing is certain: online privacy and anonymity are weakened, and in some cases, lost.

This is the context in which the latest legal action against a major US tech company should be seen. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has sued Snap, the maker of the Snapchat app, accusing it of violating the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL).

The filing, in Philadelphia County on August 25, 2026, is framed as consumer protection, but it is about pressing Snap to verify its users’ ages and to change how the app is designed.

“Child safety” is a broad and vague banner that can cover a lot of ground – from protecting minors from predators and inappropriate content, to shielding them from features that the state decides are “addictive.”

But before it gets to the “addictive” part, the complaint states that Snapchat’s age gate is not good enough – specifically, that it defaults to 18, and that this makes it “unreliable.”

The filing further states that this has “helped render Snap’s efforts to protect young users from predatory adults practically useless for any safety features that depend on accurate age-gate information.”

The remedy the state wants is a court order forcing Snap to implement reliable age verification for all users.

Other claims made in the suit are that Snap has misrepresented how often adult-themed content appears on the platform in order to get the app a 13+ rating in stores – and that it has built “addictive” features into the app, such as infinite scroll and autoplay.

“Snap deliberately designed Snapchat to be addictive,” the complaint says, adding that the company “knows that minor users especially are susceptible to Snapchat’s addictive features.”

The features that the state wants a court to stop Snap from using are: Snapstreaks, push notifications, infinite scroll, autoplay, ephemeral content, and Snapchat+’s Friend Solar System.

The suit also wants the court to order Snap to pay civil penalties and cover the costs of the suit.

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Fifteen NY Sheriffs Sue Kathy Hochul Over New Anti-ICE Law

Fifteen New York sheriffs are suing Gov. Kathy Hochul over a state law that took effect this week banning formal agreements between local governments and federal agencies.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit on behalf of the sheriffs of St. Lawrence, Wayne, Broome, Madison, Cattaraugus, Orange, Jefferson, Saratoga, Lewis, Franklin, Delaware, Fulton, Oswego, Cayuga and Rensselaer counties, according to the Albany Times-Union.

Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said Hochul had “escalated her administration’s war on the police and she expanded policies to put criminals before the citizens of New York.”

“Under the New York Constitution’s guarantees of Home Rule (Article IX) and Separation of Powers, and under the independent status of their office, they possess the authority to make their own judgments about whether and how to participate in the cooperative framework Congress created,” the lawsuit said, according to WSTM-TV.

The lawsuit said the constitutional overreach to ban what are known as 287(g) agreements harms public safety.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Agrees to $18 Billion Settlement with 29 States to End Teen Social Media Addiction Lawsuit

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta agreed to pay roughly $18 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by 29 states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed children through addictive design.

NBC News reports that the settlement, which still needs a judge’s approval, came one day after Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified in a California courtroom. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had also been expected to take the stand before the deal was reached.

In a statement, Meta said “the agreement includes a payment of approximately $18 billion, which can be used to fund youth online safety initiatives, among other state priorities.” The company said the deal is part of a broader agreement with 52 attorneys general nationwide, extending well beyond the 29 states that sued in California.

Meta did not concede wrongdoing. A court filing states the company “denies the allegations against it and that it has any liability to the Plaintiffs.”

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and other states had accused Meta of designing addictive products that harmed children and of violating federal privacy and consumer protection laws. Meta pushed back, arguing the states were cherry-picking features while ignoring safety tools it already offers, including teen accounts that default to private, time-limit reminders, parental supervision options, and restrictions on who can contact minors and what content they see.

Under the settlement, Meta will build in daily limits and nighttime blocks for teenage users. The court filing says the company “commits to establishing daily limits and blocks on nighttime use for teenage users.” Teen accounts on Facebook and Instagram will default to a combined two-hour daily use limit, and teens will need parental permission to turn that limit off.

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New York Counties Sue Governor to Protect Cooperation with ICE

Two New York counties are suing Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul to stop a new state law that bars them from working with federal immigration officers.

Officials of Rensselaer County and Broome County have announced that they intend to join a federal lawsuit challenging the new state law sponsored by state Democrats, according to PIX 11.

The federal lawsuit seeks to void a New York state law that bars police departments and other state law enforcement agencies from entering into the federal 287(g) program which formalizes a working relationship between the departments and federal immigration law enforcement branches.

Officials of Nassau County have also expressed interest in the lawsuit, but have not yet committed to joining the other two counties in the filing.

The law, called the Local Crimes, Local Cop Act, went into effect on August 25, and would summarily nullify agreements with ICE that are already in place for 13 New York counties.

“Local police will assist ICE only if a real crime has been committed,” Gov. Hochul said. “But on civil immigration matters, ICE is on their own.”

The New York Attorney General’s Office has also issued subpoenas to the counties that have not yet officially confirmed that they have terminated any agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or will abide by newly implemented state law.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running for Gov. against Hochul, strenuously opposed the Local Crimes, Local Cop Act and says that his county has taken a serious bite out of crime by working with ICE.

“We got rid of 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records in Nassau County without raiding a church, a school, a daycare center, a hospital, because we cooperated with ICE,” Blakeman recently said.

Blakeman also railed against Hochul and said her law will make New Yorkers less safe.

“Kathy Hochul, where do you want those guns? What neighborhood do you want to destroy? Where do you want those drugs? What community do you want to destroy? Where do you want those illegal migrants with criminal records to live? You want them back in New York? We say no!” he said at a recent rally.

Hochul, though, is warning the counties to knuckle under to the new law and said of any lawsuit filed to stop her law: “Bring it on.”

“No county executive should think that they are above the law in the state of New York,” the Gov. said. “The attorney general will be fully responsible for enforcement.”

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Christian Club Files Lawsuit After School District Blocks Volunteer Mentors

A chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes filed a federal lawsuit against a New Jersey school district after the club was blocked from having volunteer mentors — even as they were allowed for other clubs.

The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 11 by religious liberty advocacy group Becket, alleged that two FCA clubs at Hopewell Valley Regional School District were banned from having volunteers under a policy forbidding outside mentors for religious clubs.

“While other student groups benefit from regularly hosting adult volunteers (a resource often crucial to the groups’ long-term health), the District has declared that for ‘religious clubs,’ ‘no outside individuals are permitted’ at all,” the lawsuit said.

“This damaging double standard is precisely the type of discrimination the Constitution and civil rights law forbid.”

Carolyn McDonough, FCA New Jersey Area Director and Hopewell Valley Central High School alumna, said in a statement that “as an inaugural member of FCA at Hopewell Valley’s Central High School, I know firsthand how much mentors mean to students.”

“They helped me grow in my relationship with Jesus and live out my faith through sports. Now I have the privilege of doing the same for today’s students. I pray the court will let me continue that ministry.”

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Gaming Giant Roblox Says Teen Suicide Victim Waived Right to Sue When She Was Just 8 Years Old

Gaming platform Roblox is arguing that an 8-year-old girl gave up her right to sue the company by clicking “I agree” on its terms of service, according to court filings in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her mother. The girl tragically took her own life at just 13 year old after being introduced to dark and violent subcultures on Roblox, TikTok, and Discord.

The Louisville Courier Journal reports that Jaimee Seitz filed the lawsuit in October 2025 in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky, alleging her daughter, Audree Heine, was exposed to “harmful and violent influences” on Roblox after joining the platform at age eight, despite parental controls Seitz says she had set on the account. Audree also used Discord and TikTok to communicate with other Roblox users, and the suit names both companies as defendants alongside Roblox.

Audree tragically died by suicide in December 2024, one week after her 13th birthday. According to the lawsuit, investigators later found a journal in her school locker showing she had been introduced to a community that glorified a mass school shooter and other violent ideologies through her interactions on Roblox, Discord, and TikTok.

Roblox, Discord and TikTok have each asked the court to dismiss the claims. Roblox also filed a motion to compel arbitration, arguing that Audree and her parents waived her right to a trial no fewer than 28 times, including by creating her account, accepting six updates to Roblox’s terms, redeeming gift cards twice, and buying the platform’s virtual currency, Robux, 19 times. “Roblox made the Terms plain and Audree repeatedly manifested her assent, as courts have routinely held in examining similar agreements and as the one at issue here,” the company’s attorneys wrote.

Seitz disputed that argument in comments to the Courier Journal. “So let’s be serious about an argument that if my child clicking a tiny ‘I agree’ box somehow means she knowingly agreed to arbitration,” she said. “She was a child, she didn’t understand arbitration. She didn’t understand contracts. She didn’t understand what the little box could mean years later. But now they want a court to treat that click as though an 8-year-old knowingly negotiated away her right to have these issues heard. It’s insulting.”

Alex Walsh, an attorney representing Seitz, said Roblox’s filing seeks to move the case into a “secret arbitration process” rather than a jury trial. “Why would the companies want that? For a very simple reason,” Walsh said. “They do not want the truth about how dangerous their platforms are to come out. They don’t want there to be a light shined on what they’ve done wrong and how many children have been harmed.”

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Texas Appeals Court Slashes Alex Jones’ $50 Million Sandy Hook Judgment by More Than $43 Million

A Texas appeals court on Friday delivered a significant victory to Infowars founder Alex Jones, drastically reducing the massive $50 million judgment against him in one of the Sandy Hook defamation cases.

The Texas Third Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis to exceed the state’s strict statutory cap on punitive (exemplary) damages.

The court ordered the punitive damages reduced from roughly $45.2 million down to $1.5 million, $750,000 for each parent, in line with Texas law, according to Reuters.

Jones still faces the roughly $4.1 million in compensatory damages the jury awarded, plus interest and fees, bringing the total Texas judgment to around $5.5–6 million.

More than $43 million was wiped from the judgment. That is a massive cut from the original figure.

In the 2022 trial, a jury found Jones liable and awarded the parents more than $50 million. Texas law generally caps non-economic punitive damages at $750,000 per plaintiff.

The trial judge allowed the parents’ lawyers to amend their claims after the liability verdict but before the final damages ruling, arguing that the trauma somehow counted as a “disability” that would let them blow past the cap.

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‘Ghoulish’: Harvard paying $53 million for selling ‘heads, faces, brains and hands’ from corpses on black market

A court settlement has been reached in a “ghoulish class-action” lawsuit over the sale of body parts – from bodies donated for medical research – by a former morgue manager at Harvard.

And it has the school paying out $53 million to the families of the deceased.

A report from the New York Post explains a state court judge in Boston has preliminarily approved the deal in the legal action that resulted from the schemes of Cedric Lodge, the disgraced former Harvard morgue manager.

He was arrested back in 2023 and later was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling organs and body parts of cadavers donated to the school.

“As far back as 2018, Lodge had been stealing body parts — including ‘heads, faces, brains, skin and hands’ — which he’d then bring to his home in New Hampshire and sell with his wife, prosecutors said, shipping them to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere,” the report explained.

His wife, Denise, was given a year in jail for her role.

School officials called Lodge’s actions “despicable abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community.”

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