In a Pennsylvania federal appellate court, judges ruled that being muted on Runescape does not constitute a violation of free speech.
The ruling, which upheld an earlier circuit-court decision, was handed out by the third district of appeals on January 22nd in response to a claim filed by streamer Amro Elansari. Elansari, a serial litigator, issued the lawsuit after being muted by UK-based RuneScape developer, Jajex, in March of 2019.
Account mutes are handed out to players that violate the game’s Terms and Conditions. They limit the ability of players to chat freely in RuneScape or post to Jajex-hosted forums but still allow for full game functionality.
Elansari says that Jajex’s decision to mute his account was more than a justified exercise of power, suggesting that it carried malicious intent. In a handwritten lawsuit, Elansari writes that the account mute is a discriminatory “violation of due process, free speech, and human rights.” As retribution, the streamer sought damages equal to “whatever the jury sees fit” and a removal of the mute on his account.
Like the circuit court ruling, the district court quickly dismissed the lawsuit for “failure to state plausible claims.” Nothing about the case was found to be in violation of constitutional anti-discrimination laws.
Jajex has yet to respond to the case or offer justification for muting Elansari account—neither of which they are required to do. Jajex makes it clear that it is well within their rights to mute or ban accounts without proper explanation, and federal judges agree.
Regardless of how unsubstantiated Elansari’s claims are, it’s difficult to take a class-action lawsuit seriously when it’s coming from his pen. As reported by Penn Live, the Pennsylvania native has filed ten lawsuits in just the last year and a half.
For instance, the steamer took aim at dating app Tinder earlier this year. Elansari filed a claim against the dating site because all of the girls on the app that were interested in him turned out to be fake.
This is only the most recent example in a long line of lawsuits filed by Elansari. So far, none of them have been successful, but it doesn’t look like Elansari is giving up any time soon.
