The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey transferred OKLegal.com’s lawsuit against Meta Platforms, Inc. and Mark Zuckerberg to the Northern District of California under Instagram’s forum-selection clause.
Plaintiff OKLegal.com sued defendant Meta Platforms, Inc. and defendant Mark Zuckerberg after Instagram indefinitely banned its account, (1) alleging the ban violated the First Amendment, (2) seeking a declaration that Section 230 is unconstitutional, and (3) asserting tortious interference with an advantageous business relationship.
Plaintiff asked court to keep the case in New Jersey and deny defendants’ request to enforce the Instagram Terms of Use forum-selection clause, while also opposing defendants’ alternative request to dismiss the complaint.
The court’s ruling
The court granted defendants’ motion in part by transferring the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). It denied the remainder of the motion without prejudice, allowing defendants to raise their dismissal arguments in California.
Reasoning for the transfer
The court found plaintiff could have brought the action in the Northern District of California because Meta’s principal place of business and Zuckerberg’s residence are located there. It also found plaintiff agreed to Instagram’s Terms of Use when creating and using the account, and that those terms required non-arbitrated claims to be litigated exclusively in the Northern District of California or a state court in San Mateo County. The court rejected plaintiff’s arguments that the clause was unenforceable as clickwrap, adhesive, unconscionable, or contrary to public policy, concluding plaintiff failed to show that relevant public-interest factors overwhelmingly disfavored transfer.
OkLegal.com v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 2026 WL 850812 (D.N.J. Mar. 27, 2026)