Be Careful What You Click for: A Canadian Court Rules that a Thumbs-Up Emoji Indicates a Binding Contractual Agreement
- In this age of social media and texting, we use a plethora of shorthand visual and typographic icons to express a range of responses or reactions to posts or texts: a heart to indicate love, a laughing face or an “LOL” to indicate humor,... ›
Social Links: Social Media Account Ownership Once Again in the Spotlight
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
Social media continues to dominate the headlines this spring, with several high-profile events capturing the media’s, regulators’, and lawmakers’ attention. Jack Owoc, founder and former CEO of Bang Energy (“Bang,” a performance energy beverage), claimed that he retained the rights to control Bang’s social... ›Social Links: Behavioral targeting under scrutiny from lawmakers
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Julie O'Neill and Anthony M. Ramirez
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... ›Facebook rebrands as “Meta;” disables facial recognition capabilities
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Julie O'Neill and Anthony M. Ramirez
In late October, Facebook announced that it would change its name to Meta , signaling a shift of the social media giant’s focus toward the metaverse , a virtual space where social media, gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, and cryptocurrencies converge and allow people... ›Appeals Court Again Upholds Section 230 Protections in Case Against Grindr
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Often hailed as the law that gave us the modern Internet , Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act generally protects online platforms from liability for content posted by third parties. Many commentators, including us here at Socially Aware , have noted that Section... ›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... ›Socially Aware’s John Delaney Receives “Reader’s Choice” Award
We’re proud to announce that the online platform JD Supra has named Socially Aware co-founder and co-editor John Delaney as the recipient of one of its 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards. John was chosen from among the nearly 50,000 writers who publish on JD Supra... ›Social Links: Twitter’s tough quarter; Yelp warns users about litigious dentist; Pinterest battles Snapchat
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Instagram now allows celebrities to block trolls. While Facebook reached new highs last quarter, Twitter continued to stumble. Will adding more live video content or allowing users to create Snapchat-like collage custom emojis over photos help Twitter regain its footing? Tips for fixing your... ›Now Available: The July Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this issue of Socially Aware , our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media, we take a look at courts’ efforts to evaluate emoticons and emojis... ›- - Advertising, Digital Content, Endorsement Guides, FTC, Disappearing Content, Fraud, Marketing, Ethics, Compliance
Social Links: Social’s potential to upend the investment industry; online ad fraud; a proposal to fix Twitter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Social media has upended a number of industries. Is Wall Street next ? Facebook is getting into the video game live-streaming business. Steven Avery’s defense attorney is keeping her 163,000 Twitter followers abreast of her ongoing defense work on behalf of the “Making a Murderer” documentary... ›