Facts

On Jun 16, 2020, several African American YouTubers, Kimberly Carleste Newman, Lisa Cabrera, Catherine Jones, and Denotra Nicole Lewis, filed suit on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated against Google LLC, YouTube LLC, and Alphabet, Inc.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: The plaintiffs contended that YouTube's content moderation algorithm discriminated against them based on their race. Specifically, the plaintiffs contended that the language of the site's community guidelines created an enforceable promise to engage in race-neutral content moderation; and that the defendant's machine learning algorithm violated this contract by subjecting their videos to adverse moderation while treating similar videos from white users more favorably. The plaintiffs contended that the defendants were liable for breach of contract; breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing; unlawful discrimination in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act; false advertising; and unfair business practices.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: The defendants denied any wrongdoing or liability and all the plaintiffs' material allegations. Moreover, the defendant contended it was shielded from liability under 47 U.S.C. Section 230.

Result

The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss with prejudice.