Based on copyright infringement, emotional distress and other claims, a federal district court in California awarded $6.4 million to a victim of revenge porn, the posting of explicit material without the subject’s consent....more
Often derided as clickbait, listicles get a bum rap. They can be light on substantive content, sure, but sometimes that’s a good thing, especially for the busy readers of legal blogs, who would do well to treat themselves to...more
The government in Indonesia has warned the world’s biggest social media providers that they risk being banned in that country if they don’t block pornography and other content deemed obscene....more
After British police unsuccessfully tried to get the blogging platform WordPress.com to remove offensive and threatening posts, the deputy leader of the UK’s Labour Party vowed to urge changes that would make the country’s...more
A defamation suit brought by one reality television star against another—and naming Discovery Communications as a defendant—could determine to what extent (if any) media companies may be held responsible for what their talent...more
8/9/2017
/ Alphabet Company ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Defamation ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Free Speech ,
Google ,
Influencers ,
Marketing ,
Social Media ,
UK
Without Google’s permission, Burger King ended one of its television commercials with a statement designed to automatically cause Google Assistant devices to read a list of the Whopper’s ingredients out loud.
Having passed...more
Every December and January you can count on the trade press and the mainstream media to run lists of predictions for the upcoming year and retrospectives on the year past ranking the “best” and “worst” of everything from...more
Last year we explained how companies could protect their social media currency and heed the FTC’s warning on native advertising. We examined court opinions establishing the criteria for enforceable website terms of use and...more
1/10/2017
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Emoji ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Legal Ethics ,
Marketing ,
Native Advertising ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Trolls ,
Websites
The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions and predictions. We won’t bother Socially Aware readers with our resolutions for 2017, but we thought that we would share some predictions for the new year from our...more
1/5/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet of Things ,
LabMD ,
Marketing ,
Patent Litigation ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Technology ,
Trump Administration
Mixed Messages: Courts Grapple With Emoticons and Emoji -
Emoticon and emoji are ubiquitous in online and mobile communications; according to one study, 74 percent of Americans use emoticons, emoji and similar images...more
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
Facebook signs more than $50 million worth of deals with media firms and celebrities to create videos for its live-streaming service....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
Social media has upended a number of industries. Is Wall Street next?
Facebook is getting into the video game live-streaming business....more
6/10/2016
/ Arrest ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Internet ,
Marketing ,
Offensive Language ,
Personal Brands ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Twitter ,
UK ,
Websites
We’re trying something new here at Socially Aware: In addition to our usual social-media and tech-law analyses and updates, we’re going to end each work week with a list of links to interesting social media stories around the...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
Last year, entrepreneurs, companies and courts grappled with questions over content owners’ rights with respect to livestreaming, Yelp reviewers’ anonymity expectations, bankruptcy creditors’ access to business’ Facebook and...more
January is the month when lists—lists of predictions, lists of trends, lists of feats and lists of failures—pervade social media newsfeeds and publications’ headlines. Here at Socially Aware we’re making an annual tradition...more
We’re happy to publish our latest infographic, which highlights key social media marketing trends for both B2B and B2C companies. Among other things, the infographic points out that, although companies continue to increase...more
Bad reviews. On September 30th, the soon-to-be-launched app Peeple was described by the app’s co-founder, Julia Cordray, as a “Yelp for people,” that is, a people-rating platform that would allow users to assign number...more
10/12/2015
/ Cyberbullying ,
Facebook ,
Marketing ,
Online Reputation ,
Online Reviews ,
Photographs ,
Political Candidates ,
Ratings ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Twitter ,
Yelp
Cruel intentions. Laws seeking to regulate speech on the Internet must be narrowly drafted to avoid running afoul of the First Amendment, and limiting such a law’s applicability to intentional attempts to cause damage usually...more
8/28/2015
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Cyberbullying ,
Defamation ,
Facebook ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress ,
Marketing ,
Online Reviews ,
Revenge Porn ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Yelp
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
One of the fascinating things about social media is that, from a marketing standpoint, each social media platform offers its own unique set of features and opportunities; as a result, a marketing strategy that proves...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
..Back to the future. Socially Aware readers – and editors – of, uhm, a certain age will fondly recall how, during the early days of the dotcom era, we hung out on message boards and in chat rooms discussing (some might say...more