






EFF’s motion asks the federal court hearing the suit to dismiss MuckRock for two reasons.

First, the motion argues that Elster has failed to allege that MuckRock has done anything wrong that would make it subject to the lawsuit.

Second, the court cannot entertain any claims against MuckRock because it is immune from suit under 47 U.S.C. § 230, a provision of the Communications Decency Act (often referred to as Section 230).

Section 230 provides broad protections for online platforms such as MuckRock, shielding them from liability based on the activities of users who post content to their websites. Given that broad immunity, MuckRock cannot be sued for hosting public records sought by one of its users regardless of whether they contain trade secrets.

We are hopeful that the court will dismiss MuckRock from the suit and allow it to focus on maintaining and improving its online public records platform. EFF also thanks our local counsel, Venkat Balasubramani of FOCAL PLLC, for his assistance with the motion.