Socially Aware

November 13, 2024 - Artificial Intelligence, Data Security, First Amendment, Fraud, FTC, Online Reviews, Privacy, Social Media Policy
Social Links: Age Verification, X Appeal, and the Great White North
By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin
CHALLENGE TO TEXAS AGE-VERIFICATION LAW RETURNED TO LOWER COURT The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has sent a challenge to Texas’s controversial online age verification law back to district court for additional clarification, while leaving the lower court’s injunction blocking the
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October 30, 2024 - Defamation, E-Commerce, FTC, IP, Online Reviews, Privacy, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Socially Aware: Fake Reviews, Real Rulings, and an Epic Fail
By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin
FAKE REVIEW RULES TAKE EFFECT The Federal Trade Commission’s new rules banning phony online reviews are now in effect. These rules aim to curb false consumer testimonials, the buying of fake reviews from brokers, review suppression, falsifying social media influence, and misrepresentation of company
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August 23, 2024 - Copyright, Defamation, E-Commerce, Fraud, FTC, Online Reviews, Privacy, Social Media Policy, Trademark, Web Scraping
Social Links: Recent Developments in the Law and Business of Social Media
By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin
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, given that a robust customer review system is crucial to modern
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November 26, 2019 - Influencer Marketing, Cyberbullying, Online Reviews, Cybersecurity
Social Links: FTC fights fraudulent online product reviews; Twitter takes another swipe at trolls; Influencers affect everything from cybersecurity to career choices
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The high-end skincare brand Sunday Riley has settled lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission claiming that the brand’s founder encouraged employees of her eponymous company to set up accounts “under different identities” on the cosmetics retail site Sephora.com and leave positive reviews for
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August 22, 2018 - Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
Section 230 Survives to Fight Another Day Following California Supreme Court Decision
By: Aaron P. Rubin
As we have noted previously , the California Court of Appeal’s Hassell v. Bird decision in 2016 upholding an injunction requiring Yelp to remove certain user reviews was discouraging to social media companies and other online intermediaries, as well as to fans of Section
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August 10, 2017 - E-Commerce, FTC, Online Reviews
Get Your Gripe On: The Consumer Review Fairness Act Is Live
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Searching “millennials killed…” on the Internet returns over 1.5 million results in .65 seconds. Commentators have blamed the generation raised by tablets, smartphones, and apps for killing everything from marriage to brunch , often deriding today’s youth for being too opinionated and too obnoxious.
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January 20, 2017 - European Union, Marketing, Privacy, Online Reviews, Litigation
Social Links: Will a fan-made Star Trek prequel live long and prosper?; California bans driving while Snapchatting; apps that facilitate infidelity
By: Aaron P. Rubin
A federal district court judge refused to grant summary judgment to the copyright owners of the Star Trek franchise in the infringement suit they brought against the team behind a fan-made, crowdfunded prequel to the original Star Trek television series. Strict new European Union
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December 05, 2016 - Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
In a Rough Year for CDA Section 230, Manchanda v. Google Provides Comfort to Website Operators
By: Aaron P. Rubin
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 operators despite the unusually large number of decisions
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December 02, 2016 - Disappearing Content, Online Reviews, Free Speech, Mobile
Social Links: Yellow journalism rakes in cash; NYC law protects gig economy pay; Twitter suspends “alt-right” accounts
By: Aaron P. Rubin
“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 Wall Street Journal published an illuminating infographic illustrating who’s making
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November 22, 2016 - Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Yelp Case Shows CDA §230 Still Has Teeth
By: Aaron P. Rubin
2016 has been a challenging year for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and the website operators who depend on it for protection against liability stemming from user-generated content. An unusually large number of cases this year have resulted in decisions holding
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Topic Archives: Online Reviews

Social Links: Age Verification, X Appeal, and the Great White North

By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin

Socially Aware: Fake Reviews, Real Rulings, and an Epic Fail

By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Recent Developments in the Law and Business of Social Media

By: Lawrence W. Gallick, Anthony M. Ramirez and Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: FTC fights fraudulent online product reviews; Twitter takes another swipe at trolls; Influencers affect everything from cybersecurity to career choices

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Section 230 Survives to Fight Another Day Following California Supreme Court Decision

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Get Your Gripe On: The Consumer Review Fairness Act Is Live

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Will a fan-made Star Trek prequel live long and prosper?; California bans driving while Snapchatting; apps that facilitate infidelity

By: Aaron P. Rubin

In a Rough Year for CDA Section 230, Manchanda v. Google Provides Comfort to Website Operators

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Yellow journalism rakes in cash; NYC law protects gig economy pay; Twitter suspends “alt-right” accounts

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Yelp Case Shows CDA §230 Still Has Teeth

By: Aaron P. Rubin