YouTube TV is thriving, and its rivals want a piece of the action. Recently, media ratings giant Nielsen confirmed that YouTube is now not only the most-watched streaming service in the United States, but also the...more
7/23/2025
/ Censorship ,
First Amendment ,
Foreign Students ,
Free Speech ,
Mental Health ,
Metaverse ,
Political Campaigns ,
Pornography ,
Social Media ,
Telecommunications ,
Television ,
Texas ,
TikTok ,
Warning Labels ,
YouTube
In a rare unanimous decision, on January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that bans TikTok in the United States on national security grounds so long as it has its current ownership structure. TikTok chose to make the...more
1/23/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Data Collection ,
Executive Orders ,
First Amendment ,
Google ,
National Security ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Privacy Laws ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration ,
User-Generated Content ,
YouTube
In the prior two installments of our six-part series examining Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes online service providers from liability stemming from the publication and...more
Here at Socially Aware we talk a lot about Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes social media platforms and other online service providers from liability stemming from content...more
On October 3, 2022, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Gonzalez v. Google LLC, No. 21-1333, to address the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act....more
A federal district court judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., dismissed the complaint in a case filed by Genius, a platform that lets users share and annotate lyrics, holding that the plaintiff’s claims were preempted by copyright law....more
In a move that might be part of a settlement that YouTube has entered into with the Federal Trade Commission, the video-sharing site said it will ban “targeted” advertisements on videos likely to be watched by children....more
As we have noted previously, YouTube users sometimes object when the online video giant removes their videos based on terms-of-use violations, such as artificially inflated view counts. In a recent California case,...more
In order to comply with a new German law requiring social media sites to take down hate speech, Twitter and Facebook removed anti-Islamic social media posts authored by a German far-right political party....more
A federal appeals court in Miami held that a judge needn’t necessarily recuse herself from a case being argued by a lawyer with whom the judge is merely Facebook “friends.”...more
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a North Carolina law that the state has used to prosecute more than 1,000 sex offenders for posting on social media is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment....more
6/26/2017
/ Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Fair Use ,
First Amendment ,
Hate Speech ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Offenders ,
Social Media ,
YouTube
Twitter updated its online Privacy Policy to disclose that Twitter will be personalizing content and facilitating interest-based advertising by sharing information about its users’ online activity both on and off the...more
Facebook is implementing a feature that uses artificial intelligence to identify posts reflecting suicidal inclinations.
Google unveiled a new tool designed to combat toxic speech online by assessing the language...more
Some industry observers are asking whether the post-inauguration tweets that President Trump is sending from his personal Twitter account may be subject to the same Presidential Records Act standards as official presidential...more
“Yellow journalism” websites are using social media to capitalize on popular ideology. And they’re making a bundle.
New York City recently passed the country’s first law protecting the wages of “gig economy” workers. The...more
The Internet of Things is apparently to blame for the Web outage that paralyzed the online world earlier this month.
Justin Timberlake took down his “ballot selfie” from Instagram after Tennessee authorities made clear...more
Instagram now allows users to hide offensive comments posted to their feeds. Take that trolls!
Soon you’ll be able to watch Twitter content like NFL Thursday Night Football on a Twitter app on Apple TV, Xbox One and...more
9/21/2016
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Ballots ,
EU ,
Google ,
Instagram ,
Internet Streaming ,
Selfies ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Twitter ,
YouTube
Snapchat has caught on with “oldies” (that’s people 35 and older, FYI).
The Chinese government has forbidden online media from reporting news spread on social media sites.
A 14-year-old and his mom are suing...more
Lots of press surrounding Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn: Will LinkedIn change as a result? Will the Microsoft purchase inspire a Twitter acquisition?
“Spam King” gets 30 months in jail for sending 27 million messages....more
The Great Instagram Logo Freakout of 2016.
A UK council policy reportedly grants its members power to spy on residents by setting up fake Facebook profiles....more
Today’s companies compete not only for dollars but also for likes, followers, views, tweets, comments and shares. “Social currency,” as some researchers call it, is becoming increasingly important and companies are investing...more
3/22/2016
/ Breach of Contract ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Takedown Notices ,
Terms of Service ,
Young Lawyers ,
YouTube
Social drinkers. The founder of the Lagunitas Brewing Company decided to drop a lawsuit that he’d filed against Sierra Nevada for trademark infringement after beer drinkers expressed their disapproval of the suit on Twitter. ...more
1/19/2015
/ Beer ,
Copyright ,
Music ,
Reputation Management ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
Twitter ,
Video Recordings ,
YouTube
Yik Yak arrests. For several months now we at Socially Aware have been writing about how college students have been using the purportedly anonymous messaging app Yik Yak to communicate deeply offensive remarks and threats of...more
12/4/2014
/ Anonymity ,
COPPA ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Data Collection ,
Google ,
GPS ,
Mobile Apps ,
Offensive Language ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Students ,
Uber ,
Video Recordings ,
YouTube
In This Issue:
- Employer Access to Employee Social Media: Applicant Screening, ‘Friend’ Requests and Workplace Investigations
- Driving Under the Influence (of Google Glass)
- U.S. Courts’ Evolving Approaches to...more