Welcome to Socially Aware

Socially Aware is devoted to the law and business of social media, proactively addressing emerging issues and keeping our clients informed of new developments. We cover fields such as artificial intelligence, privacy and data security, Section 230, intellectual property, and much more.

June 01, 2020 - Contracts, Terms of Use, Online Contracts
Court Discovers Rare and Elusive “Enforceable Browsewrap”
By: Aaron P. Rubin
As we have noted many times in prior articles , courts often refuse to enforce “browsewrap” agreements where terms are presented to users merely by including a link on a page or screen without requiring affirmative acceptance. Courts typically look more favorably on “clickwrap”
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May 28, 2020 - DMCA, E-Commerce, European Union, Cyberbullying, Employment Law, Ethics
Social Links: A report suggesting DMCA changes; a new social-media-use regulation for Fla. Bar members; big changes at Facebook
By: Julie O'Neill
A new report from the U.S. Copyright Office suggests that Congress should fine-tune the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to, among other things, alter the takedown system that platforms must adhere to in order to be eligible for the safe harbor the DMCA affords
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May 08, 2020 - European Union, Influencer Marketing, Cyberbullying
Social Links: Online censorship in China; Florida legislation to thwart gang activity online; influencers criticized for breaking quarantine rules
By: Aaron P. Rubin
China’s “internet police,” who coordinate online censorship, have become especially busy since the coronavirus outbreak. Inspired by homicides that were precipitated by social media posts created by one group of teenagers to incite another, a Florida bill would allow law enforcement to charge juveniles
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May 04, 2020 - Terms of Use, Copyright, Litigation
S.D.N.Y.: Public Display of Embedded Instagram Photo Does Not Infringe Copyright
By: Aaron P. Rubin
A federal district court in New York held that a photographer failed to state a claim against digital-media website Mashable for copyright infringement of a photo that Mashable embedded on its website by using Instagram’s application programming interface (API). The decision turned on Instagram’s
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April 06, 2020 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
Computer Service Providers Face Implied Limits on CDA Immunity
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
Often lauded as the most important law for online speech, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) does not just protect popular websites like Facebook, YouTube and Google from defamation and other claims based on third-party content. It is also critically important to
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March 26, 2020 - DMCA, Privacy, User-Generated Content, Copyright, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Social Links: Biden’s stance on CDA §230; liability for user-generated content; Twitter’s process for reviewing Trump’s tweets
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
A federal district court in Illinois allowed claims for vicarious and direct copyright infringement to proceed against an employee of the Chicago Cubs Baseball Club for retweeting a third-party tweet containing the plaintiff’s copyrighted material. Read the opinion. Thinking of backing Biden in November? Would
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March 03, 2020 - Endorsement Guides, Data Security, Privacy
Fake News & Paid Reviews: FTC Seeks Comments on its Endorsement Guides
By: Julie O'Neill
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to be using its ongoing review of current rules and guides to revisit its approach to driving home the message that the relationship between a social media “influencer” and the brand he or she is endorsing must be
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February 24, 2020 - Discovery, Litigation
Are Facebook Posts Discoverable? Application of the Forman Test in N.Y.
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
New York courts are increasingly ordering the production of social media posts in discovery, including personal messages and pictures, if they shed light on pending litigation. Nonetheless, courts remain cognizant of privacy concerns, requiring parties seeking social media discovery to avoid broad requests akin
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February 10, 2020 - Contracts, Web Scraping, Privacy, Copyright, Litigation
Clearview AI and the Legal Challenges Facing Facial Recognition Databases
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
Every day, social media users upload millions of images to their accounts; each day 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook alone. Many social media websites make users’ information and images available to anyone with a web browser. The wealth of public information available
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February 05, 2020 - Web Scraping, Litigation
Combatting Unauthorized Webscraping
Socially Awar e contributors Alex Lawrence and Kristina Ehle authored an article for the Computer Law Review International that discusses the impact of the hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which holds that automated scraping
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