In July, Instagram’s parent company Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) agreed to a $68.5 million class-action biometric privacy settlement in connection with the company’s alleged violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information...more
FTC Lays Out Some AI Ad Essentials - But specific guidance isn’t here yet, so...let’s be careful out there....more
Ten years ago, the average person did not know what facial recognition was. Now, especially after its use in locating persons involved in the January 6, 2021, riots at the US Capitol, almost everyone knows its utility and...more
The latest lame-duck Covid relief package proposal would trim about 150 billion dollars (and a number of key sticking points, including funds “to bolster state and local governments, and a temporary coronavirus liability...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
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
“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
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
The Deal Professor weighs in on Yahoo’s announcement last week of the hack of roughly 500 million of its customers’ data and the specter of the MAC (material adverse change) that Verizon may choose to invoke to dance away...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
Snapchat, the popular “disappearing image” messaging social media corporation, was free to enjoy this past Labor Day weekend due to a voluntary dismissal of a biometric privacy class action. On August 30, 2016, the class...more
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
We have become inured to the sight of people staring at their phones rather than engaging with one another or enjoying their real-life surroundings. But, over the past two weeks, enslavement to mobile devices rose to new...more
We’ve previously blogged about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) privacy multistakeholder process to address concerns associated with the emerging commercial use of facial recognition...more
Social media has upended a number of industries. Is Wall Street next? Facebook is getting into the video game live-streaming business....more
A virtual reality refresher course; Google and privacy concerns; Snapchat visits the dugout; WeChat has some homework for Chinese student; and more…...more
Personal data is a valuable corporate asset. At times, the personal information collected from customers (such as email address, mailing address, phone number, etc.) can be a company’s most valuable asset. Unfortunately,...more
In this edition, we reflect upon the key digital media events of the first half of 2015 and present the major deals, developments and trends across video, music, gaming and virtual reality....more
A few weeks ago, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler set off a firestorm when he announced the FCC would consider adopting rules that would allow cable and telephone companies to charge Internet content providers (such as Amazon,...more