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

As subscription models have gained exponential traction, legislatures are clamoring to ensure that their auto-renewal laws keep up with novel consumer protectio

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 s

Over the past several years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the federal law that provides social media platforms with immunity from liability fo

Social Links is our ongoing series here at Socially Aware that rounds up current developments at the intersection of social media, policy, research, and the law

As part of the new Fair Consumer Contracts Act, [Gesetz für Faire Verbraucherverträge; published in the Federal Gazette (Part I) no. 53/2021, p. 3433 et seq., f

Clubhouse, the former invitation-only social media darling that captured the attention of investors, social media early adopters, and competitors since its intr

With a judgment dated April 27 and published on June 4, 2021, the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof – the “Court”) declared unfair and therefore illegal a

While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act continues to face significant calls for reform or even elimination, the recent Coffee v. Google case illustr

Companies contracting with consumers have to take care to ensure their agreement terms are enforceable. In one of the first post-Brexit decisions on issues in a

Partner Christiane Stuetzle, senior associate Patricia Ernst, and research assistant Susan Bischoff authored an article for Law360 covering how online content s

After the presentation of a general “European Approach to Artificial Intelligence” by the EU Commission in March 2021, a detailed draft regulation aimed at safe

A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Lemmon v. Snap provides a reminder that while Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides br

The Supreme Court has issued its much-anticipated ruling in Facebook v. Duguid, impacting many pending Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) cases nationwide

We’ve all been there: How many times have we downloaded a new social media app, only to have one of the sign-up steps ask for access to our contacts or address

In Stover v. Experian Holdings, the Ninth Circuit decided an issue of first impression for the circuit, holding that a party’s single visit to a website four ye

Morrison & Foerster’s Appellate Group has created two unique blogs containing invaluable information: The Federal Circuitry blog takes a data-driven look at the

Experts anticipate that the incoming Biden administration will be tough on tech. What does that mean for the future of §230 of the Communications Decency Act? T

Reports of social media scams that have caused users to lose money had tripled by the end of 2020’s second quarter, resulting in the loss of $117 million during

In Ganske v. Mensch, a defamation suit stemming from a “battle by Tweet,” a federal district court in New York held that the allegedly defamatory statements in

A recent ruling in Parziale v. HP, Inc., arising out of the implementation by Hewlett-Packard (“HP”) of a remote firmware update on many models of the company’s

In an attempt to shut down free speech online, Turkey enacted a law that requires social media platforms with more than a million daily users in Turkey to open

The USPTO recently released the report “Public Views on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy”. The report is part of the USPTO’s effort to e

Thomson Reuters’ The Daily Docket interviewed Cecillia Xie about her popular TikToks, where she mentors followers and helps them navigate law school and legal c

On June 7, 2019, the highly controversial EU Copyright Directive (“Directive”) came into force, requiring EU Member States to transpose its provisions into nati

A federal district court judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., dismissed the complaint in a case filed by Genius, a platform that lets users share and annotate lyrics, holdi

In Elliott v. Donegan, a federal district court in New York held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not warrant the dismissal of a defamati

It is another win for social media platforms in the realm of the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230. In a case of first impression within the Third Circui

Expressing concern about the spread of disinformation related to COVID-19, Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra said Congress may need “to reassess the speci

Foreign websites that use geotargeted advertising may be subject to personal jurisdiction in the United States, even if they have no physical presence in the Un

In a purported attempt to safeguard free speech, President Trump has issued an order “Preventing Online Censorship,” that would eliminate the protections afford

Eric Akira Tate spoke to TechRepublic about how businesses should think about establishing or updating corporate social media policies to account for the changi

Online service providers typically seek to mitigate risk by including arbitration clauses in their user agreements. In order for such agreements to be effective

Alex van der Wolk, Marijn Storm, and Ronan Tigner authored an article for the IAPP covering the Belgian Data Protection Authority’s challenge to the “tell-a-fri

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, children are spending more of their lives in the digital realm, both for education and entertainment purposes—but that doe

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the process of implementing Brexit continues. One of the key Brexit issues for the tech sector is the extent to which the UK w

Is scraping data from a publicly available website trade secret misappropriation? Based on a new opinion from the Eleventh Circuit, It might be. In Compulife So

As we have noted many times in prior articles, courts often refuse to enforce “browsewrap” agreements where terms are presented to users merely by including a l

A new report from the U.S. Copyright Office suggests that Congress should fine-tune the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to, among other things, alter th

China’s “internet police,” who coordinate online censorship, have become especially busy since the coronavirus outbreak. Inspired by homicides that were precipi

A federal district court in New York held that a photographer failed to state a claim against digital-media website Mashable for copyright infringement of a pho

Often lauded as the most important law for online speech, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) does not just protect popular websites like Facebo

A federal district court in Illinois allowed claims for vicarious and direct copyright infringement to proceed against an employee of the Chicago Cubs Baseball

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to be using its ongoing review of current rules and guides to revisit its approach to driving home the message that t

New York courts are increasingly ordering the production of social media posts in discovery, including personal messages and pictures, if they shed light on pen

Every day, social media users upload millions of images to their accounts; each day 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook alone. Many social media website

Socially Aware contributors Alex Lawrence and Kristina Ehle authored an article for the Computer Law Review International that discusses the impact of the hiQ L

On December 19, 2019, the Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance outlining the Staff’s views abo

In a move that might be part of a settlement that YouTube has entered into with the Federal Trade Commission, the video-sharing site said it will ban “targeted”

Here at Socially Aware we covered a wide range of issues in 2019. We reviewed an opinion reminding us that user-generated content posted on social media platfor

A random Twitter account tags a Japanese company and badmouths it in a series of tweets. Because the tweets are tagged, a search of the company’s name on Twitte

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 he

The Federal Trade Commission is trying yet another approach to convey the message that the relationship between a social media “influencer” and the brand he or

A recent decision from a federal court in New York highlights the limits social media users enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The

For the last twenty years, the music industry has been in a pitched battle to combat unauthorized downloading of music. Initially, the industry focused on filin

Courts continue to grapple with the enforceability of online agreements. While courts generally enforce clickwrap agreements—online agreements where users affir

In a move likely welcomed by publishers seeking a solution to honoring “sale” opt-outs in the interest-based advertising space, the Interactive Advertising Bure

One of the most recent chapters in the ongoing EU cookies saga has come in the form of a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in t

As regular readers of Socially Aware already know, there are many potential traps for companies that use photographs or other content without authorization from

Singapore has enacted a law granting government ministers the power to require social media platforms to completely remove or place warnings alongside posts the

In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice—Europe’s highest court—dealt Google a clear win by placing a territorial limit on the “right to be forgotten

In just over a week, on October 1, 2019, key amendments to Nevada’s online privacy law will take effect. We previously detailed the amendments here. In brief: C

A recent decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute between LinkedIn and hiQ Labs has spotlighted the thorny legal issues involved in unautho

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission made clear that child-directed parts of an otherwise general audience service will subject the operator of the service t

A recent Second Circuit decision makes clear that the safe harbor that social media and other Internet companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications D

It is likely no surprise to regular readers of Socially Aware that posting content to social media can, in some cases, generate significant income. But those wh

Advancements in technology appear to have spurred the Federal Trade Commission to initiate a review of its rule promulgated pursuant to the Children’s Online Pr

A federal district court dismissed a case against supermodel Gigi Hadid for posting to Instagram a photo of herself that was taken by a paparazzo. The reason fo

A federal district court in Illinois recently held in Anand v. Heath that a digital marketing company could not force a user to arbitrate because a “Continue” b

As we noted in our recent post on the Second Circuit case Herrick v. Grindr, LLC, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) continues to provide immun

The French data protection authority, the CNIL, continues to fine organizations for failing to adopt what the CNIL considers to be fundamental data security mea

A California Superior Court’s recent ruling in Murphy v. Twitter held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded Twitter from liability for sus

As we have frequently noted on Socially Aware, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media sites and other online platforms from liabili

In March, Socially Aware reported on a lawsuit involving several prominent news outlets’ publication of a photo of NFL quarterback Tom Brady on Twitter. The cas

Nevada just joined California as the second state to enact an opt-out right for consumers from the “sale” of their personal information. Senate Bill 220, which

Last week, German regulators decided to no longer accept the widely used “JusProg” software as a sufficient means for online service providers to comply with st

A federal district court in California has added to the small body of case law addressing whether it’s permissible for one party to use another party’s trademar

The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (Directive) was finally approved by all EU legislative bodies on April 15, 2019. Introducing “modernizin

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 co

A new law in Australia makes a social media company’s failure to remove “abhorrent violent material” from its platform punishable by significant fines. The law

In early March 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revised its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Corporate Enforcement Policy (the Policy). First announced

As consumers increasingly communicate and interact through social media platforms, courts have had to grapple with how to apply existing laws to new ways of com

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 punis

One of the next big items in Europe will be the expansion of “ePrivacy,” (which, among other things, regulates the use of cookies on websites). While the ePriva

The cost for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been steadily rising, and companies subject to the law should take heed. Last we

In 2019, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) is expected to clarify one of the key open issues in EU copyright law: the extent to which online platforms such a

In what is being described as “the first settlement to deem such sales illegally deceptive,” New York Attorney General Letitia James has entered into a settleme

The California Attorney General continued its series of public forums regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), with forums last week in Riverside (

In anticipation of preparing rules to implement the California Consumer Privacy Act, the California Attorney General recently announced six public forums that h