In Mufarreh v. Google, Inc., decided Friday by the Illinois Appellate Court (Justice Raymond Mitchell, joined by Justices Sharon Oden-Johnson and Thaddeus Wilson), a 10-year-old hockey player and his parents sued an anonymous video poster, and sought to discover the poster's name:
[I]n a competitive youth hockey game[,] Mufarreh missed the final penalty shot, losing the game, and had a severe emotional response on the ice. Among other things, he screamed, threw his hockey stick, gloves, and helmet, and fell to the ground.
On November 2, 2023, YouTube user FunnyIllinoisHockey uploaded a compilation video of Mufarreh's emotional episode. The video, entitled "TI Tantrum," was set to the song "Tantrum" by Madeline The Person. The video was two minutes and forty-four seconds in length and tracked Mufarreh's movements around the ice, zooming in on him as he broke down.
According to the petition, between November 2023 and April 2024, every time petitioners sought to have the video taken down, it would reappear. The video spread widely throughout the small youth hockey community. Mufarreh alleged that he suffered from restless sleep and anxiety attacks and was humiliated, mocked, and socially ostracized. His parents also alleged that they endured sleepless nights, psychological distress, and a strain on their marriage.
Petitioners alleged that the video was repeatedly republished "purely to humiliate, isolate, and psychologically destroy" them. Petitioners also alleged that, based on information and belief, the anonymous account belonged to a 23-year-old coach from a rival hockey team who was using the video to recruit kids for his team and keep them away from Mufarreh's team.
Petitioners sought to compel respondents Google and YouTube to disclose the identity of the user who posted the video so they could sue the user for defamation, infringement on the right of publicity, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Respondents informed the user of the litigation, and he appeared as John Doe, an interested party….
[T]he circuit court dismissed petitioners' claims for defamation and infringement on the right of publicity with prejudice. The circuit court also dismissed the [parents'] intentional infliction of emotional distress claims but allowed petitioners to proceed on the son's claim. Accordingly, the circuit court ordered respondents to turn over Doe's identity….
The court reversed, concluding that, as a matter of law, Doe's behavior as alleged by the plaintiffs didn't constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress:
