Socially Aware

July 23, 2024 - Free Speech, Social Media Policy, Privacy
State Social Media Laws Targeted at Teens Face Opposition
By: Lawrence W. Gallick and Lindsay B. Harris
A few months ago, we highlighted the many pending and enacted state-level social media laws targeting minors’ use of social media. Since then, political and industry groups have begun to push back, calling into question whether these types of social media laws will ultimately
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February 14, 2024 - Advertising, Compliance, Free Speech, Privacy, Social Media Policy
Court Prohibits Ohio’s AG From Enforcing Social Media Parental Notification Act
By: Lawrence W. Gallick and Aaron P. Rubin
A court in the Southern District of Ohio has issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Social Media Parental Notification Act, an Ohio law that would require social media platforms to obtain parental consent for users under 16. NetChoice LLC, an industry group
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October 19, 2020 - Advertising, FCC, Influencer Marketing, Discovery, Free Speech
Turkey’s new social media law; social media ad spend; Harvard Law School’s social media policy
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
In an attempt to shut down free speech online, Turkey enacted a law that requires social media platforms with more than a million daily users in Turkey to open an office there or assign a representative who is legally accountable to Turkish authorities. Among
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July 07, 2020 - Trademark, Cyberbullying, Marketing, Defamation, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Free Speech, Litigation
Debate over §230 of the CDA rages on; Twitter defeats defamation suit; Booking.com held valid trademark
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
In a purported attempt to safeguard free speech, President Trump has issued an order “Preventing Online Censorship,” that would eliminate the protections afforded by one of our favorite topics here at Socially Aware , Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally protects
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October 07, 2019 - First Amendment, Artificial Intelligence, FTC, Influencer Marketing, Fraud, Free Speech
A dating platform’s alleged fraud; a decline in the popularity of popularity metrics; TikTok’s unique AI
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Singapore has enacted a law granting government ministers the power to require social media platforms to completely remove or place warnings alongside posts the authorities designate as false. Unlike the compensation earned by child stars who perform on television, in films, or on other
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June 11, 2019 - Advertising, First Amendment, European Union, Copyright, Free Speech, IP, Litigation
Social Links: Suit over “embedded tweet” with Tom Brady’s photo settles; brand agency manipulates Wikipedia; evidence from Instagram wins French rock star’s kids a share of his estate
By: Julie O'Neill
In March, Socially Aware reported on a lawsuit involving several prominent news outlets’ publication of a photo of NFL quarterback Tom Brady on Twitter. The case had the potential to upend a copyright and Internet-law rule that, in the words of a Forbes columnist
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April 16, 2019 - Advertising, First Amendment, European Union, Influencer Marketing, Copyright, Free Speech, Compliance, Litigation
Social Links: An EU law to protect copyright owners online; collecting biometric data without running afoul of the law; influencers’ attempts to appear more authentic
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
A new law in Australia makes a social media company’s failure to remove “abhorrent violent material” from its platform punishable by significant fines. The law also states that the executives at social media companies who fail to remove the content could be sentenced to
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March 19, 2019 - Advertising, Digital Content, Cyberbullying, Privacy, Big Data, COPPA, Free Speech
YouTube disallows ads on anti-vax content; privacy bills aim to extend children’s protections from Internet harm, secure users’ control over data
By: Julie O'Neill
New York is now one of the 43 states where “revenge porn,” the posting of explicit photographs or videos to the Internet without the subject’s consent, is punishable by law. See how far the states have come – find out how many had criminalized
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April 16, 2018 - First Amendment, Marketing, Copyright, Defamation, Free Speech, Litigation
Social Links: Revenge porn victim awarded $6.4M; the discoverability of photos posted to Facebook; can users be blocked from government officials’ social media accounts?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
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. The judgment is believed to be one of the largest awards
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January 12, 2018 - Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Disappearing Content, Free Speech
Social Links: Facebook ups its facial recognition game; retracing Twitter’s 2017 missteps; YouTube stars’ fan bases reach their saturation point
By: Aaron P. Rubin
In order to comply with a new German law requiring social media sites to take down hate speech, Twitter and Facebook removed anti-Islamic social media posts authored by a German far-right political party. The Obama administration’s screening of social media accounts of aspiring immigrants
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Topic Archives: Free Speech

State Social Media Laws Targeted at Teens Face Opposition

By: Lawrence W. Gallick and Lindsay B. Harris

Court Prohibits Ohio’s AG From Enforcing Social Media Parental Notification Act

By: Lawrence W. Gallick and Aaron P. Rubin

Turkey’s new social media law; social media ad spend; Harvard Law School’s social media policy

By: Anthony M. Ramirez

Debate over §230 of the CDA rages on; Twitter defeats defamation suit; Booking.com held valid trademark

By: Anthony M. Ramirez

A dating platform’s alleged fraud; a decline in the popularity of popularity metrics; TikTok’s unique AI

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Suit over “embedded tweet” with Tom Brady’s photo settles; brand agency manipulates Wikipedia; evidence from Instagram wins French rock star’s kids a share of his estate

By: Julie O'Neill

Social Links: An EU law to protect copyright owners online; collecting biometric data without running afoul of the law; influencers’ attempts to appear more authentic

By: Anthony M. Ramirez

YouTube disallows ads on anti-vax content; privacy bills aim to extend children’s protections from Internet harm, secure users’ control over data

By: Julie O'Neill

Social Links: Revenge porn victim awarded $6.4M; the discoverability of photos posted to Facebook; can users be blocked from government officials’ social media accounts?

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Facebook ups its facial recognition game; retracing Twitter’s 2017 missteps; YouTube stars’ fan bases reach their saturation point

By: Aaron P. Rubin