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Socially Aware Blog The Law and Business of Social Media

Tag Archives: Social Media Policies

A Fistful of Data: Facebook and Profile Technology, Inc. Showdown Over the Right to Use Outdated User Information

By Jacob Michael Kaufman on Posted in Litigation, Privacy

As social media matures and users become more concerned about the privacy of the information they publish online, New Zealand-based search engine app company Profile Technology, Inc. and Facebook are engaged in a legal battle stemming from a dispute over the right to use certain user data. The story first came to light in October… Continue Reading

Watch What You Tweet: Proposed Social Media Guidance for Financial Institutions

By Nathan D. Taylor, Julie O'Neill and Andrew M. Smith on Posted in Financial Institutions, Privacy

With the explosive growth of social media, consumers increasingly expect to be able to interact online with the companies from which they buy goods and services. As a result, financial institutions have begun to explore the use of social media, both to strengthen relationships with existing customers and to attract new ones. Financial institutions, however,… Continue Reading

New Issue of the Socially Aware Newsletter Now Available

By John Delaney, Gabriel Meister and Aaron Rubin on Posted in Employment Law, FCC, FTC, IP, Litigation, Privacy, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Statistics, Terms of Use, Trademark

In the latest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award-winning guide to the law and business of social media, we look at recent First Amendment, intellectual property, labor and privacy law developments affecting corporate users of social media and the Internet. We also recap major events from 2012 that have had a substantial impact on… Continue Reading

Social Media 2013: Addressing Corporate Risks

By John Delaney on Posted in Event

Social media sites are transforming not only the daily lives of consumers, but also how companies interact with consumers. However, along with the exciting new marketing opportunities presented by social media come challenging new legal issues. In seeking to capitalize on the social media gold rush, is your company taking the time to identify and… Continue Reading

Social Media and the National Labor Relations Act: What Employers Need to Know in Drafting and Updating Their Social Media Policies

By Anna Ferrari, Christine E. Lyon and Timothy F. Ryan on Posted in Employment Law

This article was first published by ALM Media Properties LLC in Internet Law & Strategy (January 2013). For over a year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been taking employers to task for intruding too far into employees’ social media activities. The NLRB’s enforcement actions have provided a well-publicized reminder that the protections of… Continue Reading

Which Side Are You On? Employers and Employees Battle Over Ownership of Social Media Accounts

By Christine E. Lyon and Jesse Soslow on Posted in Litigation

When an employee uses a social media account to promote his or her company, who keeps that account when the employee leaves? Perhaps more importantly, who keeps the friends, followers and connections associated with that account? Three lawsuits highlight the challenges an employer may face in seeking to gain control of work-related social media accounts… Continue Reading

New California Law Limits Employer Access to Employee Social Media Accounts

By Anna Ferrari and Christine E. Lyon on Posted in Employment Law, Privacy

On September 27, 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that restricts employer access to the “personal social media” of employees and applicants for employment. Assembly Bill 1844 (“AB 1844”) adds to the California Labor Code new section 980.  Under this section, an employer may not “require or request” an employee or applicant to… Continue Reading

The NLRB Weighs In (Again) On Social Media Policies

By Anna Ferrari, Susy Hassan and Nathan Salminen on Posted in Employment Law

With the issuance of its third guidance document on workplace social media policies in the past year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues to refine its position on how to craft workplace social media policies that are consistent with the terms of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Section 7 of the NLRA provides… Continue Reading

We’ve Come for Your Tweets: Twitter to Appeal Denial of Its Motion to Quash District Attorney’s Subpoena

By J. Alexander Lawrence and Erin Herlihy on Posted in Litigation, Privacy, Terms of Use

As the Occupy Wall Street protests fade from memory, a related discovery battle between Twitter and the New York County District Attorney rages on. Earlier this year, we discussed the District Attorney’s efforts to subpoena user information and tweets of criminal defendant Malcolm Harris, an Occupy Wall Street protester charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly… Continue Reading

The Social Media Experiment: Challenges for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers

By Jay Baris and John Delaney on Posted in Financial Institutions, Investment Management Law, Securities Law

The announcement by a Wall Street firm that it plans to give its financial advisers limited access to social media websites has been viewed by many as inevitable.  Morgan Stanley’s foray into the fast-changing world of social media highlights the difficulties faced by broker-dealers and investment advisers and the regulators who oversee them.  As more… Continue Reading

Tracking the Trolls: A “Twitter Jitters” Update

By Alistair Maughan on Posted in E-Personation, Litigation

We reported this past May in our Socially Aware blog about efforts of law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom to adapt existing laws to police potential offenses committed via social media.  The UK government has just announced proposals that will make it easier to identify people who abuse social media. The UK government’s somewhat surprising… Continue Reading

Should We All Be Getting the Twitter “Jitters”? Be Careful What You Say Online (Particularly in the United Kingdom)

By Alistair Maughan and Susan McLean on Posted in Ethics, Litigation

History is littered with examples of the law being slow to catch up with the use of technology.  Social media is no exception.  As our Socially Aware blog attests, countries around the world are having to think fast to apply legal norms to rapidly evolving communications technologies and practices. Law enforcement authorities in the United… Continue Reading

A Dirty Job: TheDirty.com Cases Show the Limits of CDA Section 230

By Cecilia Ziniti on Posted in Ethics, Litigation, Privacy

We’ve reported before on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the 1996 statute that states, “[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”  Courts have interpreted Section 230 to immunize social media and other websites… Continue Reading

California Provides Social Media Guidance for Financial Institutions

By Heidi Johanns and Julie O'Neill on Posted in Financial Institutions

While Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms have become an increasingly important tool for businesses across industries to meet their customers’ needs and expectations, financial institutions have been slow to embrace social media.  This is likely attributable to the highly regulated environment in which financial institutions operate, the unique risks associated with operating… Continue Reading

Relevance of Securities Laws in the Social Media Age – Seminar Series

By John Delaney on Posted in Event, SEC, Securities Law

Join us for this timely seminar series in New York, Palo Alto, and San Francisco. The use of social media by public companies and their employees raises many legal issues, such as the application of the federal securities laws to communications made through company websites, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Those communications implicate laws regulating selective… Continue Reading

Social Media Policies for IRS, Veterans Affairs, Distilled Spirits Council and More

By John Delaney, Gabriel Meister and Aaron Rubin on Posted in FTC, Status Updates

IRS Personal Use Policy Your tax dollars at work:  The IRS has issued a new personal computer use policy that prohibits employees from using government computers to access social networking sites.  Other personal-use websites, such as Craigslist, dating sites, and pornographic sites are also off-limits according to the new policy. Department of Veterans Affairs Social… Continue Reading

NLRB Report Provides Guidance to Employers on Social Media Issues

By Timothy F. Ryan and Susy Hassan on Posted in Employment Law

On August 18, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) Office of the General Counsel released a report discussing the outcome of fourteen cases that its Division of Advice has investigated this year involving social media use in the employment context.  While the report does not reflect actual decisions of the NLRB, it does indicate the… Continue Reading

NLRB Gets Worked Up Over Social Media Policies

By Timothy F. Ryan and Susy Hassan on Posted in Employment Law

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) remains vigilant regarding the interaction between social media and the workplace, and has continued to focus on the impact of restrictive social media policies on employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  In an effort to issue uniform guidance on this emerging issue, all NLRB regional offices… Continue Reading