If you use social media for advertising, there are some legal issues that you should be aware of. Some users of social media like Pinterest may not realize that their posts could be construed as advertising. These users can also benefit from this quick primer of do’s and don’ts from Jennifer L Gregor: “Prevent Advertising Legal Errors in Social Media.”
The UK High Court recently stated in Chambers v Director of Public Prosecution[2012] that the Internet was a “public electronic communications network.” One of the possible ramifications of this decision is that tweet that you thought was private, is now subject to a much wider range of regulation. This decision underscores that when considering social media, you need to be aware of the global reach and context of your engagement. “United Kingdom: The Twitter Judgment: The Law With Unintended Consequences?” by Chris Watson, Joanne Wheeler and Bailey Ingram looks at the issue in greater depth.
Because Facebook is a US based company, other countries have had difficulty in applying their own laws to disputes over content posted on the social media site. A recent controversy over The Aboriginal Memes Facebook page saw the Australian poster using US free speech protections to avoid Australian anti-discrimination laws. For the full story, read Rod McGuirk’s article “Facebook Pressured to Remove Page Deemed Racist.”
A recent case concerned the use of an engagement photo. Public Advocate defended its unauthorized use of the photo as parody. The owner of the photo responded through a common law right of publicity claim. Marie-Andree Weiss’ article “When Your Engagement Photo Becomes a Political Ad: Parody and Right of Publicity” looks at the issues in depth.
A seemingly innocent post on Facebook blowing off a little steam which you may think is just being seen by your friends could land you in hot water. While context and privacy settings will ultimately be considered, you could find yourself in court before that happens if someone takes an idle post more seriously than you mean it. Robert Hilson looks at the issue in his article “Posting Idle Facebook Threats May Land Social Media Users in Law Enforcement Crosshairs.”
A recent story in Time by Didi Tang with contributions from Gillian Wong, “U.S. Consulate’s Account Disappears from Chinese Social Media Site”, reveals that an American Consulate’s microblog from Beijing has suddenly disappeared fom the Internet due to mysterious “technical problems”. This appears to be a common problem with blogs that post on topics that are considered taboo. American should not expect to enjoy the same rights they experience at home even while on social media.
Indian Interior Advisor Rehman Malik says social media must be regulated. Read more here.
There has been a lot in the new lately about legislation restricting sex offenders from using social media, but it is still important that children are educated about using social media sites. Drishyia Nair’s article “Educate Children About Social Media Traps” outlines some of these issues.
A New Jersey law seeks to prevent employers from requiring prospective employees to hand over their social media passwords to enable the potential employer to thoroughly search those sites. Ramon Rivera’s article, “New Social Media Rule for New Jersey Employers Passes Assembly”, doesn’t indicate that legislation is pending in the state’s Senate, however.
According to Twitter’s terms of service, users own their tweets, but Judge Matthew Sciarrino has issued a subpoena requiring Twitter to release tweets in relation to the Occupy movement in New York. In his decision, Judge Sciarrino states that users have no reasonable expectation of privacy once they post. Twitter, however, maintains that the issue really centers around ownership of the tweets and that rests firmly with users: the tweets simply aren’t Twitter’s to turn over. Read the full story here.