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
Lingo Telecom, a Georgia-based VoIP service operator, has agreed to pay a $1 million fine for using AI-generated deepfake technology to spoof President Joe Biden’s voice in a series of robocalls. A Louisiana political...more
9/5/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
California ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Deep Fake ,
Google ,
Machine Learning ,
Music Industry ,
Online Advertisements ,
Reddit ,
Robocalling ,
Telecommunications ,
VoIP
The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a new rule aimed at curtailing false, misleading, and otherwise fraudulent reviews on online retail sites. Fake reviews are a significant problem for the big e-commerce platforms,...more
8/28/2024
/ Cybersquatting ,
Defamation ,
Domain Names ,
E-Commerce ,
Endorsements ,
Fake Reviews ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Instagram ,
Microsoft ,
Online Reviews ,
Reddit ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Social Media
Section 23o, the “26 words that changed the Internet,” is once again under scrutiny from lawmakers.
At the federal level, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary panel’s subcommittee on privacy, technology, and...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
While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act continues to face significant calls for reform or even elimination, the recent Coffee v. Google case illustrates that Section 230 continues to provide broad protection to...more
6/10/2021
/ Class Action ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Google ,
Google Play Store ,
Illegal Gambling ,
Immunity ,
Interactive Gaming ,
Leave to Amend ,
Payment Systems ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 230 ,
Slot Machines ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Virtual Currency
As part of a new tracking system, the Department of Homeland Security will be keeping records of immigrants’ social media handles and search results.
Russia to Facebook: Turn over user-information or risk being blocked....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
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
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
A nice overview of the rules on researching jurors’ social media accounts in various jurisdictions from Law.com.
The importance of appearing at the top of Google search results, especially on mobile devices, is driving...more
Welcome to the newest edition of Socially Aware, our Burton Awardwinning guide to the law and business of social media.
In this edition, we explore the threat to U.S. jobs posed by rapid advances in emerging technologies;...more
4/21/2017
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Cross-Device ,
DMCA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Mobile Apps ,
Safe Harbors ,
Snapchat ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Technology Sector ,
Tracking Systems ,
Trump Administration ,
WhatsApp
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
Twitter is suing the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to void a summons demanding records that would identify the creator of an anti-Trump Twitter account.
Facebook has joined the fight against 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
New York City’s Conflicts of Interest Board has issued guidelines prohibiting elected officials from using official social media accounts for political purposes or having their staff draft content for their personal social...more
A New Jersey court rules that state police can examine a suspect’s private social media messages without having to apply for an order under the state’s wiretapping laws.
Technology companies are exercising a lot of...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
As we noted in our recent post on the Ninth Circuit case Kimzey v. Yelp! Inc., in the right circumstances, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) still provides robust protection against liability for website...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
Facebook at Work, the on-the-job version of the web’s most popular social media platform, will launch in London on October 10th.
Add iHeartRadio to the list of Internet radio platforms that will be offering an on demand...more
The California Supreme Court agreed to hear Yelp’s case arguing that requiring the company to remove a one-star review of a law firm “creates a gaping hole” in the immunity that shields internet service providers from suits...more
9/27/2016
/ Bots ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Driverless Cars ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Google ,
Hackers ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
LinkedIn ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Safety Precautions ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Transparency ,
Trolls ,
Twitter ,
Websites ,
Yelp
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 is on track to rake in an enormous amount of ad revenue by 2017.
Also, there’s mounting evidence that the company is working toward developing a Google Glass-like product.
We have written previously...more