YouTuber Marshall Daniels has been posting far-right-leaning videos under the name “Young Pharaoh” since 2015, but the removal of two videos discussing George Floyd and COVID-19 has forced YouTube to break its constitution. You tried to claim that you violated your First Amendment rights. Years later, Daniels now owes YouTube about $40,000 in legal fees for filing a groundless lawsuit against YouTube owner Alphabet, Inc.
Virginia K. DeMarch, United States Justice of the Peace in California, ordered Daniels to pay YouTube $38,576 for alleging First Amendment claims that it was “clearly without merit and frivolous from the start.” I was. YouTube says this is a conservative estimate and likely underestimates the fees paid to defend the substantive claims.
In his defense, Daniels never argued that the fees Alphabet was demanding were excessive or potentially burdensome. In making this rare decision in favor of defendant Alphabet, DeMarchi had to consider his Daniels’ financial situation. In his court filings, Daniels described himself as “a fledgling individual consumer,” but he also told the court that he made more than $180,000 in the year before he filed his complaint. I was. DeMarchi determined that the charges would not be borne by Daniels.
According to Daniels, who filed a complaint in 2020, he was a victim of “reverse censorship” on YouTube, posting a video titled “Fauci silenced Dr. Judy Mikovitz from warning the American public.” I deleted and stopped monetizing my account and hurt him. “George Floyd, Riot, Anonymous exposed as Deep State cyops for now.” claimed to have been removed at the request of
In a repeated complaint, Daniels said Congressmen Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, Calif., and Adam Schiff, Democrat, Calif., said Section 230 was on the enforcement of policies banning COVID-19 misinformation. , pushing false information and writing to Google executives.
Daniels claimed he was advancing a “novel legal theory” by suing Alphabet, while DeMarch was based on a statute that clearly excluded federal officials like Pelosi and Schiff from liability. He said the claim was unsuccessful.
“None of his arguments are persuasive. Because they didn’t show,” DeMarchi wrote in the order awarding Alphabet attorneys’ fees, “special circumstances.”
Internet law expert Eric Goldman wrote on his blog that Daniels’ claims defending “MAGA-ish content” are “misplaced.” Goldman characterized DeMarch’s order as “a polite way for the judge to say ‘I’m not even close’ and ‘I can’t believe you tried this.'”
Neither Daniels’ attorney nor Google immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.
