As the world’s premier blog and go-to source for insightful, pithy commentary on the law and business of social media (EDITOR’S NOTE: this claim has not been verified), the team at Socially Aware feels socially responsible to recap the top ten posts of 2024. We’re doing this in reverse-order “countdown mode” because we like to pretend we’re astronauts.
It’s certainly been an interesting year in social media. Clickwrap agreements received a lot of attention from courts, the FTC cracked down on fake reviews, data scrapers spent nearly as much time in court as they did scraping data, age-verification laws for social media became a thing, and Section 230 was stress-tested from all angles. In an age where tech moves approximately one billion times faster than legislation, staying on top of these developments can be daunting, but it’s crucial for serving our clients.
Here are the ten most popular Socially Aware posts of the year:
10) Lawrence W. Gallick on Toth v. Everly Well, Inc.
In this post from October, Lawrence chatted with Socially Aware about Toth v. Everly Well and how the First Circuit’s ruling in a clickwrap/arbitration case may be at odds with the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in Lovinfosse v. Lowe’s Home Centers, LLP. Lawrence explores the nuances of the ruling and shares some deep insight.
9) Age Verification, X Appeal, and the Great White North
This Social Links post from November covered Texas’s sweeping age verification law, the FTC’s fake reviews rules, a Saudi blogger’s lawsuit against X, Canada ordering TikTok to shutter offices, and ChatGPT’s approach to election integrity. Good times!
8) California Federal Court Holds X’s Claims Against Scraper Preempted by Federal Law
Socially Aware’s in-house gurus Aaron Rubin and Lawrence W. Gallick took an in-depth look at the X Corp. v. Bright Data Ltd. case last June, dissecting the intricacies and ramifications of this ongoing legal battle. Though X’s claims were initially dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, they lived to fight another day when the court agreed to accept their amended complaint in late November. This one is a great read.
7) Deepfakes, AI, and the Continuing Saga of Reddit
In August, we posted this Social Links collection that looked at a couple of AI cases, including the $1 million judgement against Georgia-based VoIP service operator Lingo Telecom for using AI deepfake technology to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice in a series of robocalls. Other topics include Reddit’s post-IPO advertising approach and the copyright battle between major record labels and Cox Communications.
6) Owned: Second Circuit Holds That Traditional Principles of Property Law Apply to Social Media Accounts
Way back in February, Aaron Rubin and Lawrence W. Gallick addressed the always-contentious issue of social media account ownership by looking at JLM Couture, Inc. v. Hayley Paige Gutman. This piece draws some interesting conclusions that have aged well in subsequent months. The very recent filing by X claiming ownership of Alex Jones’s account in Jones’s bankruptcy proceeding underlines Aaron and Lawrence’s freaky prescience.
5) Supreme Court Clarifies the Boundaries of Public Official Liability on Social Media
On March 20, guest authors J. Alexander Lawrence and Justin Kareem Rezkalla contributed a great piece of analysis in the wake of the Lindke v. Freed Supreme Court opinion on when public officials may be held liable for violating the First Amendment for silencing critics on social media. The unanimous(!) opinion recognized that the mere fact that a social media page belongs to a public official is not by itself sufficient to impose liability.
4) Social Links: Going Back to Cali
We named this early October piece “Going Back to Cali” because each snippet of news just happened to be California-centric. Go figure. AI guidelines, social media addiction legislation, deepfake laws, privacy rights . . . it’s all about the Golden State.
3) Central District of California Upholds Grindr’s Immunity Under Section 230 Amidst Growing Concerns over Social Media Safety for Children
In addition to claiming the #3 spot on our countdown, this piece from February wins the “longest title of the year” award! In it, Aaron Rubin and Lindsay Harris dissect the John Doe v. Grindr case and how Section 230 was applied to the popular LGBTQ+ dating app. This example of Socially Aware’s substantive yet readable content is well worth revisiting.
2) Social Links: Fake Reviews, Real Rulings, and an Epic Fail
We posted this extra-spooky Social Links piece on the eve of Halloween, and it clawed its way to the #2 spot. Fake reviews, medical data tracking, a very dramatic court ruling . . . this one was all treats, no tricks.
1) An Enforceable Browsewrap . . . or Not?
The #1 most popular Socially Aware post of 2024 was authored by the dynamic duo of Aaron Rubin and Lawrence W. Gallick. The piece looks at Patrick v. Running Warehouse LLC, which addressed whether an arbitration agreement contained in a website’s terms of use was enforceable. Spoiler alert: it was.
On behalf of Aaron Rubin, Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez, and the entire Socially Aware team, we’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season. 2025 will no doubt be an interesting year in the world of social media and IP law—and we’ll be covering all of it, so you don’t have to.
[View source.]
