Finding that President Trump’s Twitter feed constitutes a public forum, a federal judge in New York City held that it’s a First Amendment violation when the President or one of his assistants blocks a Twitter user from...more
In 2016, brands spent $570 million on social influencer endorsements on Instagram alone. This recode article takes a looks at how much influencers with certain followings can command, and whether they’re worth the investment....more
9/25/2017
/ Advertising ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Endorsements ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Endorsement Guidelines ,
Google ,
Influencers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Instagram ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media
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
A New York State senator has introduced a bill that would make posting footage of a crime to social media with the intention of glorifying violence or becoming famous punishable by up to four years in prison and fines....more
The Decline and Fall of the Section 230 Safe Harbor? -
2016 was a tough year for a lot of reasons, most of which are outside the scope of this blog (though if you’d like to hear our thoughts about Bowie, Prince or...more
2/10/2017
/ Advertising ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Email ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Geo-Blocking ,
Microsoft ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Stored Communications Act ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Instagram now allows users to zoom in on photos in their feeds and at least 11 brands are already capitalizing on the new feature.
Pinterest acquired Instapaper, a tool that allows you to cache webpages for reading at a...more
9/6/2016
/ Advertising ,
Facebook ,
Instagram ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
Journalism ,
Mobile Apps ,
Photographs ,
Pinterest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media
Twitter took steps to remedy its harassment problem.
In addition, over the last six months, Twitter suspended 235,000 accounts that promoted terrorism....more
The Internet contains over 4.6 billion Web pages, most of which are accessible for free, making content that we used to have to pay for—news, videos, games—available without having to hand over a credit card...more
Social media has allowed aspiring authors, musicians, filmmakers and other artists to publish their works and develop a fan base without having to wait to be discovered by a publishing house, record label or talent agency....more
Welcome to the newest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media. In this edition, we offer tips for a successful—and legal—advertising campaign; we examine a New York...more
3/9/2016
/ Advertising ,
B2C ,
Big Data ,
Digital Goods ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Rule ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Marketing ,
Mobile Apps ,
Native Advertising ,
Social Media ,
Terms and Conditions ,
User-Generated Content
Welcome to the newest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media. In this edition, we present a “grand unifying theory” of today’s leading technologies and the legal...more
7/29/2015
/ Advertising ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Creditors ,
Data Collection ,
Data Storage Providers ,
Digital Assets ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Evidence ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hashtags ,
HBO ,
Live Streaming ,
Marketing ,
Online Reviews ,
Retail Tracking ,
Sanctions ,
Showtime ,
Social Media ,
Spoliation ,
Trademarks ,
Twitter ,
Yelp
As a technology law blogger and co-editor of Socially Aware, I monitor emerging developments in information technology. What’s hot in IT today? Any shortlist would have to include social media, mobile, wearable technology,...more
7/8/2015
/ Advertising ,
Big Data ,
Consent ,
Data Collection ,
Drones ,
Facebook ,
Informed Consent ,
Internet ,
Internet of Things ,
Mobile Devices ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Media ,
Startups ,
Technology ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Wearable Technology ,
Web Tracking
Bad ads. New research shows that 5% of the people visiting Google-related websites are using computers infected with programs that insert illegitimate ads onto web pages; as a result, these web surfers see ads that site...more
Out with the inbox? The overwhelming popularity of workplace-specific platforms that facilitate coworker communication—commonly referred to as “enterprise social media”—is undeniable. But are these platforms poised to someday...more
Blawg rules. The California State Bar has issued an opinion outlining the circumstances under which an attorney’s blog would be subject to the requirements of the California State Bar Act’s Rules of Professional Conduct...more
A Craigslist conviction. The highest court in Massachusetts upheld the conviction under the Bay State’s anti-harassment statute of a couple who posted fake Craigslist advertisements that caused a great deal of trouble for...more
1/16/2015
/ Advertising ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Craigslist ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Facebook ,
False Advertising ,
Harassment ,
Instagram ,
LinkedIn ,
Selfies ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Twitter
In This Issue:
- What’s in a Like?
- R.I.P.: The Facebook “Like” Gate
- Facebook Dislikes Fake Likes
- Privacy in the Cloud: A Legal Framework for Moving Personal Data to the Cloud
- Click...more
12/17/2014
/ Advertising ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Cloud Computing ,
COPPA ,
Counterfeiting ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Infringement ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
UK ,
Websites
Between a lock and a hard place. Should search engines be responsible for verifying the legitimacy of the companies they include in their search results? A locksmith in Lorton, Virginia, is claiming that they should. Mark...more
Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy phony Facebook “likes.” And those can go a long way toward making a small business owner’s dreams come true, right?...more
..Pay to play. Attention, marketing professionals: The free ride that Facebook has been giving to advertisers is coming to end. We’ve recently discussed Facebook’s recently ban on “like” gating. Now, inspired by its users’...more
11/19/2014
/ Advertising ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Music ,
Online Advertisements ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Media ,
Spotify ,
Uber ,
UK
..Buy local. Facebook has just announced that it’s going to provide hyper-local advertising services for merchants who want to reach consumers in very specific geographic areas. This new feature reportedly will allow a...more
..Upward mobility. These days, Facebook videos, taken as a whole, are receiving a total of one billion views a day, and at least 65% of those views are occurring on mobile devices, Facebook VP of global marketing solutions...more
..Pin Money. Brands of all sizes have long used the virtual pin board/social media site Pinterest to promote their wares and drive traffic to their web sites. Beginning in October 2014, companies will be able to purchase paid...more
..School discipline. The California legislature has passed a law that, if signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (or not vetoed by him before the end of September), would significantly expand privacy protections for students from...more