Legal action against Eventbrite for unlawful discrimination

[Spero]

On Oct 27 2022, Eventbrite pulled my book launch event for 'Transpositions - personal journeys into gender criticism'. This was a collection of stories from men and women about how they got involved in issues around sex and gender. Some of you may have contributed.

They told me that I was promoting 'violent and dangerous' content. I asked them to explain themselves. They haven't. So I am taking them to court for unlawful discrimination against my gender critical belief.

I wrote about it in the Critic here thecritic.co.uk/why-is-eventbrite-obstructing-my-book-launch/

I am hoping that some people may feel able to do a spot of gardening. I know its dark and miserable and not the best weather for gardening, but I think this could be quite an important piece of digging. There are some really important questions to ask about how private companies, based overseas are allowed to dictate what we think or say.

Yay! Go get 'em Spero!

You are very brave, go get 'em!

Where do we dig?

They told me that I was promoting 'violent and dangerous' content. I asked them to explain themselves. They haven't.

Always a good idea to read the T&Cs I think when asking yourself, why has my contract been terminated?

”16. Our Community Guidelines
You agree to abide by the Eventbrite Community Guidelines whenever you use or access our Services. Please read these carefully, as they affect what types of content and conduct are permitted on and through the Eventbrite Services.”

Community Guidelines:
”Hateful, Dangerous, or Violent Content or Events Don’t Post Hateful or Dangerous Content or Events That Discriminate Against or Threaten Any Societal Group, or Encourages Violence. This includes: Hate speech, hateful ideologies and hateful activities that incite, encourage or engage in violence, intimidation, disparagement, harassment, or threats targeting an individual or group based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age or veteran status Terrorist symbols, activities and organisations or organised criminal activity”

“17.3 Additional Rules About Your Content. Your Content must be accurate and truthful. Eventbrite reserves the right to remove Your Content from the Services if Eventbrite believes in its sole discretion that it violates these Terms, our Community Guidelines, or for any other reason…”

Not surprised they have ignored you, by signing the T&Cs, you literally agreed they could in their sole discretion remove your content for any reason. So even if you prove your content was not hateful, dangerous or violent content, their fall back is so what? You agreed that we can remove it in our sole discretion for any other reason.

Oh, and U.K. “rule of law”? Doesn’t apply because you also agreed to:
“23. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. These laws will apply no matter where in the world you live. But if you live outside of the United States, you may be entitled to the protection of the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your local consumer protection law. Eventbrite is based in San Francisco, California, and any legal action against Eventbrite related to our Services and that is not precluded by the arbitration provisions in these Terms must be filed and take place in San Francisco. Thus, for any actions not subject to arbitration, you and Eventbrite agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the federal or state courts (as applicable) located in San Francisco County, California.”

There are some really important questions to ask about how private companies, based overseas are allowed to dictate what we think or say.

You literally allowed them to make these decisions regarding publishing/hosting your content by agreeing to their T&Cs for service. This doesn’t affect what you think or say, it just means you have agreed in advance that they can refuse you their service of hosting an event advertising content including what you think or say. US & CA rule of law also doesn’t include political belief like GC as a protected characteristic against discrimination laws.

I am taking them to court for unlawful discrimination against my gender critical belief. Good luck with that!

The law is the law no matter what you write in a terms and conditions statement.

Not sure if there is a case, but copy pasting the wording from the event website doesn't mean there isn't.

I'm sure OP has had legal advice and since common sense and reality are not hateful, I would say their "discretion" might not hold up so well in a court of law.

The OP is a reasonably well known barrister, so I think she's got the legal side covered :-)

@Baaaaaa
The law is the law no matter what you write in a terms and conditions statement.. There is no such thing as “the law” when dealing with international contracts or agreements. That’s why the applicable law and jurisdiction clause exist.

I'm sure OP has had legal advice 🤷‍♀️

…since common sense and reality are not hateful, I would say their "discretion" might not hold up so well in a court of law. Consider the court….San Francisco….

Indeed. She co-founded fair Cop. Pretty certain she knows these specific laws reasonably better than random TRAs.

Inside out and backwards, I would say.

But, as ever, it's the sunlight that is equally important.

If it goes to court won't it be tried in the country where the 'offence' occurred and won't that country's laws apply? Like Maya and her bosses.

How typical of a TRA to come on and talk at a BARRISTER about the law!

Quite amusing to the OP, I’m sure….

@Spero I’d like to do some gardening on your behalf but I just want to check if it is going to the right garden. Is Eventbright in the same plot as Recording Women as Hateful or are they separate container gardens? I can easily find the link to Recording Women as Hateful (and have gardened there before) but can’t find Eventbright.

Thanks for taking the stress of this on and making the world a better place for my daughter.

All the best op

@Discovereads you could write the moon is made of cheese in your T&Cs but it doesn't make it so. A private company doing business here in the UK has to abide by OUR laws and answer to OUR courts. You cannot refuse service because of someone's race, religion, disabilty or sexual orientation and as been proven in court, being GC IS protected under the Equality Act. You can take their T&Cs and wipe your arse with them. They have broken the law.

Also I'll be happy to contribute to the court case to put these arrogant arseholes in their place.

I know this is a side issue, but the idea that US companies can impose their laws anywhere in the world with their T&C is appalling.

But I guess if you’re someone like Discovereads and don’t know the actual law, like I’m assuming Spero does (as it’s her day job!) then you’ll read the T&Cs (as just demonstrated) and walk away.

Unenforceable terms are a thing. You can’t just write into a contract ‘we can decide to violate equality law at our discretion and by signing up you agree to this.’

I’m feeling a bit of digging fatigue to be honest, I think there are more important causes at the moment and we don’t need to sue everyone who acts like a plank, but good luck with it.

So according to discovereads if a company based in say Iran puts in their Ts and Cs that they won't provide service to gay or Jewish people, and the terms are governed by the laws of Iran, then they could legitimately and legally refuse service to any gay or Jewish person using their service in the UK? Really?! I mean unlike Spero I'm not a barrister but doesn't seem right to me.

@Discovereads
This isn’t a contractual claim, it’s founded in discrimination. Do you think a company could refuse services to black or Hindu customers because it put something in its T&Cs?
If you provide a service in the U.K. you can’t breach the Equality Act in the provision.
Your contractual terms don’t absolve you from complying with the law.

It did amuse me watching you tell a practising barrister about the merits of her legal case.

Nice c&p Discovereads. Just a shame you didn't read it properly:
But if you live outside of the United States, you may be entitled to the protection of the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your local consumer protection law

Enjoying the hubris with my morning coffee

I am not sure what I can usefully do to help but thank you for bringing this case and I hope your book launch goes well.

Didn’t Toby young recently have problems wit PayPal withdrawing services and he said they couldn’t sue because PayPal are based elsewhere in the world. It’ll be interesting to see how it affects the claim if at all.

Anyway, Eventbrite are making a habit of policing people’s freedom of speech. It’ll be great to see someone push back! I’ll be planting a potato or two.

TRAs don't excel at much, but the one thing they do excel at is patronisingly explaining a subject - biology, the law, sports - to a woman who is expert in it. If I had a pound for every time I'd seen a TRA have their arse handed to them on a plate...

That aside, I don't really understand Eventbrite's behaviour here. Their platform has been used to host lots of gender-critical events. What on earth did they object to about Sarah's book launch?

Side issue, but you can also get out of T&C's if they are particularly unusual and the company hasn't drawn sufficient attention to them. They can't just stick something preposterous in the small print to catch people out with.

Good luck, spero.

Was there not some company that put in their Ts and Cs that by signing up to them you handed over your first born child or something like that?😂