U.S. Supreme Court declines Amazon greenwashing case

The country’s highest court has declined to hear a case brought from lower circuit courts earlier this year involving online retail giant Amazon and its protections under Section 230.

Amazon was sued by Planet Green Cartridge, a US manufacturer of printer cartridges, for allowing third-party companies to advertise and sell mislabeled products claiming to be remanufactured or recycled. Remanufacturing is considered a more sustainable manufacturing process, reducing raw material and energy consumption by restoring products to manufacturer standards.

Planet Green Cartridge seeks $500 million in third-party liability damages from Amazon based on its recommendation of greenwashed products. The lawsuit argued that Amazon’s algorithms promoted listings that falsely advertised new, imported cartridges, increasing sales by $3 billion and creating unfair competition among sellers as customers were duped by false advertising into purchasing less durable products.

Amazon’s counterclaim hinges on online merchant protections outlined in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields Internet service hosts from government regulation and shields them from legal liability for content posted by their users. Many consider it the tentpole of a free and open Internet.

After several conflicting lower court rulings, the 9th Circuit Court in March dismissed the case, ruling that Amazon cannot be held liable for claims written by third-party sellers. Planet Green Cartridge then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and clarify whether Section 230 protections also extend to online marketplaces that profit from recommending, promoting, or distributing products on their website in addition to hosting listings – as Amazon does.

Section 230 and online censorship have become hot button topics in the US, especially since social media platforms have mostly retreated from content moderation. Increasingly powerful AI-enhanced algorithms have complicated matters. In 2023, the US Supreme Court dismissed the complaint against YouTube and Twitter (now YouTube’s parent company Google) and ruled in favor of Twitter’s Section 230 protections.