When the Internet Attacks

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2026

First Page

521

Volume

47

Issue

2

Source Publication Abbreviation

Cardozo Law Review

Abstract

Courts have struggled with applying personal jurisdiction in cases involving intentional torts where the defendants act outside the forum, and the problem is particularly apparent and acute when the defendants use the internet to commit the tort. For example, is there jurisdiction when a defendant doxxes someone and calls for violence?  What if they leave a bad Yelp review? Or tweet a defamatory statement? Courts have used any tests for determining whether personal jurisdiction is appropriate in these situations, but there has been relatively little recent scholarship on whether these tests are appropriate for analyzing personal jurisdiction in these contexts. This Article seeks to fill that gap by synthesizing existing US. Supreme Court precedent and developing a framework for analyzing personal jurisdiction for intentional torts that more closely aligns with the analysis used for other types of cases and that better addresses the constitutional concerns underlying all personal jurisdiction analyses.

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