From Judge William Alsup's opinion Thursday in Dangaard v. Instagram, LLC (N.D. Cal. 2024):
The public enjoys the right to know to whom the public courts provide relief (or not). Filings "more than tangentially related to the merits of a case" may be sealed only for "compelling reasons." That "standard applies to most judicial records," with a "good cause" standard applying otherwise….
This order now addresses materials contained within Meta's motion for summary judgment that Meta wishes to keep sealed…. First, Meta states that citing to its internal policies of how it moderates content and statistics reflecting how Meta blocks certain content would allow "malicious actors to take advantage of this specialized internal information to circumvent or otherwise render ineffective" Meta's moderation processes…. Second, that Meta's content moderation policies could cause competitive harm if disclosed because competitors could copy Meta's techniques to better operate their online services. Third, that some of the information contains personal identifying information and other material implicating the privacy interests of third parties.
As a preliminary issue, Meta seeks to seal portions of the motion for summary judgment itself. Given that the motion is dispositive, Meta must articulate a compelling reason to justify sealing swaths of a dispositive motion. This order finds that Meta has not met its burden. Though Meta seeks to seal specific sentences and headers, all of the proposed redactions speak to the merits of the action for which the public should have access.
