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 posts on social media.
In a move characterized as setting legal precedent, UK lawyers served an injunction against “persons unknown” via an email account linked to someone who was posting allegedly defamatory “fake news” stories on social media.
European regulators fined Google $2.7 billion for violating antitrust law by allegedly tailoring algorithms for product-related queries to promote its own comparison shopping service. If the search company doesn’t change how its search engine works in the EU in the next few months, it risks fines of up to 5% of its parent company Alphabet Inc.’s daily revenue.
A newly formed trade group, called the Influencer Marketing Council, is representing social influencers in discussions with regulators and Internet platforms, and is leading an effort to outline best practices for complying with the FTC’s endorsement guidelines.
Pinterest’s commercial progress has reportedly been hampered by several factors, including the format of its advertisements, which must mimic user posts—something that requires brands to design content specifically for the platform.
Members of law enforcement have expressed concerns regarding the safety risks posed by a Snapchat update that lets users see the exact location of their Snapchat “friends.” An article on The Verge has some useful tips on how to use the function, which is called Snap Map, and how to turn it off.
Because the First Amendment limits the ability of the U.S. government to regulate search companies’ and social media platforms’ policies and guidelines, companies like Google and Twitter might eventually be de facto regulated even within the United States by foreign nations whose governments are entitled to regulate what happens on the Internet in order to protect their citizens according to their own laws.
Several A-list musicians have stepped away from social media at least partly because their incredible popularity has made them an attractive target for trolls.
Here are tips on how to limit online service providers from collecting information about you in using social media and surfing the web.