Social media sites are transforming not only the daily lives of consumers, but also how companies interact with consumers. Here at Morrison Foerster, across all of our practice groups, we are seeing complex, cutting-edge legal issues arising out of social media. As with the Internet boom during the mid-to-late 1990s, social media is generating new legal questions at a far faster pace than the law’s ability to provide answers to such questions. In an effort to stay on top of these emerging issues, and to keep our clients and friends informed of new developments, Morrison Foerster publishes this blog devoted to the law and business of social media.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Aaron is the chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group and co-chair of the Interactive + Digital Media Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals.Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data- and technology-intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud-based technology, digital media (social media, AR/VR, gaming, streaming media, AdTech), AI, healthcare, consumer electronics, e-commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on branding and marketing, trademark licensing, and content-related transactions, as well as the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin-offs, and private equity investments.He has represented clients such as Autodesk, Meta, OpenAI, Splunk, Konami, Kaiser Permanente, SoftBank, Visa, and Yahoo, among others.Aaron has been recognized by numerous publications for his work on market-defining technology transactions. He is currently ranked by Chambers USA for “Technology Transactions.”Aaron also serves as co-editor of Socially Aware, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics. Aaron is also a sought-after speaker on new and emerging areas of law, and is a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences and legal services programs. In addition to his active practice, Aaron regularly provides pro bono assistance to various nonprofit and charitable organizations such as Common Sense Media and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is a member of the board of directors of California Lawyers for the Arts.While in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Aaron served as executive editor of the California Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Aaron served as law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick and the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, both United States District Judges for the Northern District of California.

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Aaron is the chair of our Technology Transactions Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals. Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data– and technology–intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud computing, AR/VR, AI, gaming, healthcare, consumer electronics, social media, e–commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin–offs, and private equity investments.

Aaron P. Rubin

Lawrence Gallick is of counsel in the firm’s Austin office and a member of the Technology Transactions Group.Lawrence focuses his practice on technology transactions and licensing matters. His diverse experience includes advising on SaaS agreements, cross-licensing agreements, research and collaboration agreements, development agreements, and distribution agreements. He counsels a broad range of companies across the software, hardware, life sciences, biotech and FinTech spaces, as well as other entities including universities.He advises clients in connection with general corporate matters including contract negotiations, and leasing and technology placement agreements.Lawrence also serves as co-editor of <a href="https://www.sociallyawareblog.com/" target="_blank">Socially Aware</a>, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics.Prior to joining the firm, Lawrence was counsel at another major law firm. Before earning his law degree, Lawrence was a web consultant, project manager, and web developer in Portland, Oregon, where he managed and consulted on projects using industry methodologies and performed custom development and integration of content management systems.Lawrence was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in 2015 and 2018–2022, and is licensed in both California and New York. Lawrence earned his J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, where he was the electronic systems editor for the Buffalo Law Review and awarded the ABA-BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law.

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Lawrence Gallick

Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.Anthony advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. He regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions. His clients include technology, digital media and content for television and music, financial services, and communications companies with diverse intellectual property assets and issues.His practice focuses on the legal aspects of developing, licensing, and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts, including outsourcing transactions, as well as content and data licenses. He regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to licensing and commercialization of digital media and content, digital content that is distributed over the Internet or streamed, mobile applications and social media, as well as the licensing of recorded music for distribution via digital platforms. Anthony is also experienced with issues relating to open-source software, software development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud-based technology, and protection of proprietary information.Anthony has extensive experience working on matters involving disruptive technologies, such as blockchain. He has helped fintech clients with general intellectual property issues in connection with terms of service for online financial products and services.Anthony is an integral part of the outside pro bono legal team for nonprofit organizations based in New York, including advising clients on legal issues regarding entertainment, social media, privacy rights, and the negotiation of outsourcing and service agreements. Anthony received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2009. He received his B.S. from Cornell University in 2004.

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Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster. He advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. His clients include technology, media, and communications companies with considerable intellectual property assets. His practice focuses on the legal aspects of licensing and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts. He also regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to mobile applications and social media.

Anthony M. Ramirez

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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.

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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to take aim at social media platforms that collect and use personal information that build algorithms to target individuals a

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Social Links: Behavioral targeting under scrutiny from lawmakers

Social Links: Behavioral targeting under scrutiny from lawmakers | Socially Aware

Julie O'Neill

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to take aim at social media platforms that collect and use personal information that build algorithms to target individuals across a variety of dimensions when users engage with those platforms, most prominently in the form of advertising and other promotional campaigns from the political, entertainment, and commercial realms.The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, introduced in January by <a href="https://eshoo.house.gov/media/press-releases/eshoo-schakowsky-booker-introduce-bill-ban-surveillance-advertising" target="_blank">Democratic Representatives Anna Eshoo (California) and Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), and Democratic Senator Cory Booker (New Jersey)</a>, seeks to rein in advertisers, ad networks, and other entities from using personal information received from third parties to target advertisements. As <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/370406/new-bill-would-outlaw-most-forms-of-behavioral-tar.html" target="_blank">Media Post</a> reports, “The bill says personal information includes data that is ‘reasonably linkable’ to an individual or device—including inferred data, browsing activity and unique identifiers.”What makes this bill different from previous privacy bills is its departure from requiring a user’s consent or allowing a user to opt out of behavioral targeting. The bill would still permit contextual advertising, which generally refers to advertisements based on the information that a particular screen is displaying or for which the individual searched. But it would prohibit using information collected for contextual advertising purposes for further targeting in other forums or contexts. The bill also would not restrict certain types of location-based targeted advertising. In addition, the bill would ban targeting on either actual or perceived information about a user’s race, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or other protected statuses.The technology and advertising sectors have been swift with their commentary on the bill. Read more from the following:<ul><li><a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/why-marketers-should-take-banning-surveillance-advertising-act-seriously" target="_blank">eMarketer</a></li><li><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/18/banning-surveillance-advertising-act/" target="_blank">Tech Crunch</a></li><li><a href="https://www.adexchanger.com/privacy/even-if-targeted-online-advertising-isnt-banned-take-note-of-which-way-the-wind-is-blowing/" target="_blank">Ad Exchanger</a></li></ul><h3>Like COVID variants, misinformation in social media surges</h3>Recent studies have shown a steep rise in misinformation being spread by online gangs and other groups responsible for coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB). These movements continue to spread conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination rhetoric, and often use bullying tactics to harass and intimidate influencers, health officials, and journalists who oppose their alt-views. Many believe that these actors are causing more harm than government-backed groups, given their ability to infiltrate social media platforms, and the difficulty in regulating their informal tactics.Meta, Facebook’s parent company, <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/12/metas-adversarial-threat-report/" target="_blank">recently banned adversarial pages</a> that were associated with a European anti-vaccination movement called “Viral Vendetta,” or “V_V,” as <a href="https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_report_viral_vendetta.pdf" target="_blank">this Graphika report</a> explains.As <a href="https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-login-0bb473c3-938b-4771-bd0b-bbac04a795a4.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslogin&stream=top" target="_blank">Axios recently reported</a>, “Loosely organized activist movements can be more dangerous than bot-driven campaigns that are often backed by state or government actors, because they link real-world people who can encourage each other to take more drastic actions, according to Bryce Webster-Jacobsen, director of intelligence operations at GroupSense, a threat intelligence firm.”According to Meta, the company now has taken swift action against two tactics that these alt-actors employ:<ul><li>Brigading: We will remove any adversarial networks we find where people work together to mass comment, mass post or engage in other types of repetitive mass behaviors to harass others or silence them.</li><li>Mass Reporting: We will remove any adversarial networks we find where people work together to mass-report an account or content to get it incorrectly taken down from our platform.</li></ul><h3>Increasing number of U.S. adults favor regulation of social media</h3>A <a href="https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/10/18135638/2110047_crosstabs_MC_TECH_FACEBOOK_Adults_v1_CC.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslogin&stream=top" target="_blank">recent study from Morning Consult</a> reported that 56% of U.S. adults are in favor of governmental regulation of social media companies. That study also cited that approximately three in five U.S. adults don’t believe that social media platforms go far enough to keep their users safe.The year 2021 witnessed a sharp increase in governmental and general societal scrutiny of social media platforms and the roles they play—or don’t play—in a variety of societal, governmental, and political arenas.But how to fix the myriad of issues that policymakers and the public raise about social media remains elusive, given the massive role that it plays in society.As Ashley Johnson, a senior policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation noted in a report that accompanied the Morning Consult survey, “I think if there is legislation, it's going to be very broad, in order to try to compromise and break this really large gap between the two parties.”