How owner of Teatotaller cafe defeated social media giant Meta in court

CONCORD — When Emmett Soldati first noticed the Instagram account for his small cafe Teatotaller was deleted, he had no idea the battle to get accountability from Facebook would take six years.

But Soldati, who represented himself in court, has finally won his small claim against the social media giant now known as Meta. Soldati was relieved when the Dover District Court finally released its decision Jan. 19.

“When I filed the initial small claim in 2018, I was in my 20s and now I’m not in my 20s, I had hair on my head and now I don’t have hair on my head,” Soldati said. “I just sort of feel like, how on earth did this take so long?”

Soldati’s win wasn’t just a win for him, he said, but a win for all Instagram users and small business owners who have faced similar problems with the tech company.

Why did Soldati file a claim against Facebook?

Teatotaller, which has been described on Yelp as a “queer, hipster oasis of tea, coffee, and pastry goodness,” first opened in 2011 in Somersworth. It has since closed in Somersworth and now has locations in Dover and Concord. From the beginning, Soldati's business used Instagram heavily as a way to engage and find customers.

By 2018, Teatotaller had a large following to whom it promoted shows, specials, and other items. Soldati paid Instagram and Facebook for use of the professional platform.

When he first found himself unable to log in to his account in June 2018, he thought there was some kind of technical glitch.

“Over the course of 24 hours realizing it was deleted, I was very concerned,” Soldati said. All users could see when they tried to look at the account was a blank screen. “And so, you know, anyone might assume we don't exist anymore or we closed or whatnot and all of the shows and events and specials that we were just sort of planning to engage with our audience, we didn't have that line of communication.”

Having no luck with Instagram's help support, he decided to file a small claim in the Dover District Court, thinking Facebook would “get the memo” and either give the account back or pay him a couple hundred bucks to repay him for lost revenue.

“What was interesting is after I filed that claim, Facebook's response to it was so enormous and sort of so disproportionate to what I was, at the time, ultimately claiming: in their eyes, a relatively small account, small business owner just seeking a quick fix,” Soldati said. “And they sort of threw the book at me and had this massive memo and motion to dismiss that had like 10 points of why Facebook doesn't owe me anything. That was the moment that I realized that I had sort of struck some kind of nerve.”

How did Soldati beat Facebook?

Despite Facebook hiring several law firms to defend their case, Soldati, representing himself, was able to successfully argue Meta/Facebook committed a breach of contract and that they were not immune under the Communications Decency Act.

Soldati argued that by deleting his account with no explanation or warning, Meta had broken its contract set in the terms of service, and therefore was a breach of contract. In response, Meta claimed Soldati had accidentally deleted the account himself. But Soldati had screenshots from the day his account was deleted.

“The defendant provided two conflicting reasons for the deletion and was unable to specify a clear reason for the deletion,” read the court’s final order. “This court finds that the plaintiff has met their burden showing that they did not delete their own account.”

The court ruled in favor of Soldati that Facebook had committed a breach of contract.

Meta also argued it was immune to any cases brought against them under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which is often used to obtain immunity from claims involving the publishing or deletion of material on its platforms.

When Soldati originally filed his claim in the Dover District Court in 2018, it was dismissed under this section. But when he appealed it to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, they decided that Facebook was actually not immune from liability under the CDA. This win send the case back to the Dover District Court to issue a ruling on the small claim.

This time, the Dover District Court found Meta didn’t keep its promise to Teatotaller and deleted the account “without sufficient basis, and inconsistent with the reasons they have provided in the Terms of Use.”

The order ends, “Accordingly, the defendant is not entitled to immunity under the CDA.”

Meta’s motion to dismiss also included some other arguments Soldati calls “bogus.” It argued Instagram and Facebook (now Meta) aren’t the same company, but Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, six years before Soldati’s account was deleted. It also argued Meta doesn’t do any business in New Hampshire, but it markets and advertises to New Hampshire users. The company also argued Facebook is a free service which nobody pays for, but Soldati and other professional account owners do pay. These arguments ultimately failed.

So why did Facebook delete Teatotaller’s account?

Meta never gave an explanation for why it deleted Teatotaller's account.

While Teatotaller is known for supporting LGBTQ rights and has had daring billboards promoting the business vandalized, Soldati doesn’t think that was the reason for the deletion.

“It’s very possible that Facebook just screwed up,” Soldati said, but he thinks the company wouldn’t want to admit that.

“If Facebook made a technological misstep that damaged the integrity of some of their users accounts, that's a credibility risk and it's a shareholder risk,” Soldati said. “And so I think a big aspect of this and why they shifted to trying to pretend that I deleted the account was because the true reason of its deletion could actually be something that undermines the promise that they claim to bring the users that, 'Hey, don't worry, as long as you follow the rules and don't post offensive material, whatever, you're good. And we're going to keep your account safe. We're going to keep your account active.'”

What does this win mean for Soldati and other Facebook users?

The District Court's ruling awarded Soldati $100 plus costs, and Soldati said the final amount is still pending. He said it will probably be just a few hundred dollars, maybe a few thousand dollars.

It’s nothing compared to the time he’s spent on the case, or what his business lost from the initial account deletion. To him, what’s more important is the repercussions of this decision.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court is now the highest court to have decided against Facebook’s CDA defense, according to Soldati.

“I can be happy about the hundreds of dollars I put in my pocket. But ultimately, this will sort of stand as an example of like, they can't continue to throw the book at people and say, 'No, you don't have a claim here because we're immune,'” said Soldati. “Because now people can point to the New Hampshire Supreme Court and a small claims court in Dover, New Hampshire, and say here a judge found that you didn't pass the test.”

Soldati said he hopes courts start to see Meta as a monopoly. He initially filed his claim because there wasn’t another place for him to market his small business.

“It’s not like I can sell bubble tea on Twitter the way I can market it on a reel or a story or a post,” he said.

During the years-long course of the trial, he received lots of messages from people facing similar situations. A New York Times article reported many users had their accounts deleted in 2022. He hopes individual users can use this decision to gain power and leverage against the social media great.

“Atsome point some court has to review this and say, 'Maybe Facebook should not have as much power to completely dominate and control not only the social media landscape, but our court system,'” Soldati said.

In court, Soldati said Facebook attorneys were condescending and patronizing to him, but he took it seriously because it was his livelihood and because he thought that someone needed to fight them. He says it was “100%” worth it.

Gary Burt, a Manchester lawyer who represented Meta in the New Hampshire Supreme Court as well as the Dover District Court, did not immediately respond to a request to comment for this story.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Teatotaller cafe owner wins Instagram case in court