Reddit doesn't have to release the IP addresses of users who talk about piracy

Reddit doesn't have to share the IP addresses of users discussing piracy with movie companies. An American court decided this. The court ruled that these users are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

This amendment protects the right of every American to express themselves freely and anonymously and that right applies according to the Los Angeles court also on the internet. The court notes that there are exceptions to this protection in some cases, but that they do not apply in this case.

The case was brought by several American film companies, including Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures. They wanted to get their hands on seven years of log files containing the IP addresses of six Reddit users. The film companies wanted to use these log files to provide evidence in another lawsuit against local American internet providers who, according to the film companies, take too little action against piracy.

Similar lawsuits took place in 2023: Reddit I and Reddit II . At that time, the US court also ruled that information about Reddit users discussing piracy could not simply be released and that the users were protected by the First Amendment. The film companies then demanded not only IP addresses, but also that personal data of Reddit users be released.