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Ninth Circuit to Hear Appeal of Calise v. Meta Platforms, Inc. – by James M. Walsh Esq.

August 7, 2026 No Comments

Ninth Circuit to Hear Appeal of Calise v. Meta Platforms, Inc. – by James M. Walsh Esq.
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“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

Dick the Butcher

~ William Shakespeare, Henry Vi, Part II

In November 2025, Writers Weekly covered a landmark decision from the Northern District of California.[1]  The bellwether case of Calise v. Meta Platforms, Inc.[2] represented a watershed moment for all Facebook users and prospective Plaintiffs.  Calise is significant because it was the first time litigants were able to pierce the broad immunity afforded to internet platform providers under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act.

The decision in Calise is once again before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.  The lower court decision, much to the chagrin of Meta, was in favor of the Plaintiffs.  The broad immunity afforded to Meta under Section 230 had finally been pierced at the District Court level.  Counsel for the Plaintiffs had effectively circumvented immunity granted to Meta under Act 230 by arguing bedrock, long established precedent and principles found in simple contract law.  Meta had violated its own contractual Terms of Service, Community Standards, and Advertising Standards to the detriment of Calise and others in the class.

I’ve made clear that I am not a big fan of the California courts and, particularly, the Ninth Circuit.  In legal jurisprudence, there are the majority of jurisdictions leaning one way on a particular area of the law, and there are the minority of jurisdictions that lean contrary to the majority or another way.  California always seems to be the wild card, charting  its own direction on questions of law and precedence.

Meta’s stance, in its appeal of the District Court decision, is remarkable.  In my opinion, Meta’s stance is borderline ridiculous – particularly since Meta modified language in its Terms of Service and other policies after the District Court pierced Act 230 immunity.[3]

Calise is a class-action case (multiple Plaintiffs similarly situated).  “The plaintiffs claim in a class-action complaint that Meta failed to honor representations in its terms of service — including a prior statement that it will “take appropriate action” if it learns of harmful content. (Meta revised that wording after the lawsuit was filed, and now says it “may” take appropriate action regarding harmful content.)”[4]  Meta is quickly back peddling on its contractual commitments to its users.  In fact, Meta is in bed with its Chinese scam runners – according to Reuters, generating 10% or more of its annual revenue from false and predatory advertising.  That ill-gotten revenue was 16 billion+ in calendar year 2025 alone.

“The initial complaint [in the District Court], which drew heavily from reports in The New York Times, BuzzFeed and other publications, alleged that Facebook’s sales force “aggressively” solicits ad sales in China, even though an internal study allegedly showed that nearly 30% of ads placed by China-based advertisers violated a Facebook policy.”[5]

CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA STEPS IN THE FRAY

“Meta has now come under attack by the Consumer Federation of America on similar contractual grounds.  The CFA contends:  “Meta makes these misrepresentations in its terms of service and community standards, scam prevention hub, press releases, and the media,” the watchdog adds. “None of Meta’s misrepresentations involve anything other than Meta’s own speech.”

Meta’s terms of service say it “will take appropriate action” if it detects misuse of its products or harmful conduct, and the community standards section [6]says Meta removes content and combats behavior “that purposefully employs deceptive means…to either scam or defraud users and businesses, or to drive engagement.”

I don’t foresee Meta succeeding in either Calise or the CFA litigation.  The District court’s opinion in Calise is airtight and spot on.  Meta contractually failed its users – its as simple as that.  Meta Platform’s, Inc. is unabashedly attempting to twist and squirm its way out of its own user covenants that it intentionally employed to gain user subscriptions and trust.

Shakespeare’s prose in the play Henry VI – “The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers” – is often misused and misunderstood.  Shakespeare never meant to disparage or attack the legal profession.  “Approximately four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, this pithy phrase has become one of the most famous witticisms, appropriated often to disparage the legal profession, or at least acknowledge the ubiquitous caricature of the crooked, overpriced, counselor.”[7]

The quote actually amplified Shakespeare’s trust in the legal profession.  “In other words, this [quote] suggests that Shakespeare represented lawyers as the most fundamental defense against the grossest manifestations of power-hungry antics wrought by the scum of humanity.”[8] In Henry VI, it was necessary to eliminate lawyers who were a threat to subverting a rebellion against King Henry.  The lawyer’s literacy and acumen posed a threat to the coup’s success.

Counsel in Calise, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Mathew Bergman & the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a myriad of State and Federal Attorneys General, among others, are noteworthy lawyers or a group comprised of lawyers committed to quelling a rebellion by the Titans of Tech.  The Titan of Tech have arrogantly grown uncountable and above the law.  Beyond reproach.

It’s high time for a hefty dose of reality and a lesson in humility.

These aberrant oligarchs (Titans of Tech) are not above the law.

The trail of financial and personal losses and carnage are reprehensible.

 

“As a careful reading of that text will reveal, Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government.”

~ Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens[9]

 

 

[1] https://writersweekly.com/this-weeks-article/meta-massive-facebook-ad-fraud

[2] https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/calise-v-meta-platforms-1118879195

[3] https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2025/09/court-fetishizes-facebooks-tos-statement-that-it-takes-appropriate-content-moderation-actions-calise-v-meta.htm

[4] https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/416920/facebook-users-press-bid-to-sue-meta-over-fraudule.html

[5] Id.

[6] https://finance.yahoo.com/media-advertising/articles/consumer-federation-battles-meta-over-163418741.html

[7] https://lithub.com/what-did-shakespeare-mean-when-he-wrote-lets-kill-all-the-lawyers/

[8] Id.

[9] https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/06/28/Stevens-No-lets-not-kill-all-the-lawyers/1571488779200/

 

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JAMES M. WALSH, ESQ., is a former Navy JAGC officer and a recipient of the American Bar Association’s coveted LAMP Award for excellence in military legal assistance practice. A rolling stone, J.M. has globetrotted most of his adult life. After the military, J.M. pursued commercial real estate development, leasing, and asset management. He resides in Catania, Sicily. He spent almost twenty years in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Luzerne, Erie & Lackawanna Counties. His handiwork as an editor and author is interspersed throughout this novel. Leo A. Murray fondly refers to J.M. as his collaborative, literary ‘Coach’ or ‘Lieutenant.’ 

 



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