"The Diet Madison Avenue suit, filed in Los Angeles, named the account and a string of Jane and John Does, representing dozens of people it believed were associated with the account. Their identities could be revealed if Instagram is subpoenaed and ordered to turn over subscriber information. The court could grant the subpoena depending on how it interprets Mr. Watson’s defamation claim, said Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Maryland and the author of the book “Hate Crimes in Cyberspace.”
“What the court’s going to do in a searching way, realizing free speech and anonymous speech is on the line, is ask: Is there a real lawsuit here?” she said. If it decides that Mr. Watson has a solid defamation case based on the facts alleged in his complaint, she said, then Instagram could be subpoenaed."
- Date Published:07/01/2018
- Original Publication:The New York Times