CDT and EFF Urge Court to Carefully Consider Users’ First Amendment Rights in Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc.
On Monday, CDT and EFF sought leave to submit an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida to grant an interlocutory appeal to the Eleventh Circuit to ensure adequate review of users’ First Amendment rights in Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. The case involves the tragic suicide of a child that followed his use of a chatbot and the complex First Amendment questions that accompany whether and how plaintiffs can appropriately recover damages alleged to stem from chatbot outputs.
CDT and EFF’s brief discusses how First Amendment-protected expression may be implicated throughout the design, delivery, and use of chatbot LLMs and urges the court to prioritize users’ interests in accessing chatbot outputs in its First Amendment analysis. The brief documents the Supreme Court’s long-standing precedent holding that the First Amendment’s protections for speech extend not just to speakers but also to people who seek out information. A failure to appropriately consider users’ First Amendment rights in relation to seeking information from chatbots, the brief argues, would open the door for unprecedented governmental interference in the ways that people can create, seek, and share information.
