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California’s AB 587: What You Need to Know About Social Media Content Moderation

Photo of Jeewon SerratoPhoto of Jamie KimBy Jeewon Serrato and Jamie Kim on Posted in Social Media
On Sept. 13, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 587, which requires social media companies to publicly post their content moderation policies and semiannually report data on their enforcement of the policies to the attorney general. The first part of this article will discuss the requirements imposed by AB 587 on social media … Continue Reading

California Facebook Decision At Odds With Illinois Courts

By Erin Bolan Hines on Posted in Information Security, Social Media
On February 26, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied Facebook, Inc.’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ consolidated class action complaint for failure to allege a concrete injury in fact under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Plaintiffs alleged Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act … Continue Reading

FTC Takes Action Against Individual Social Media Influencers

Photo of Stephanie LucasBy Stephanie Lucas on Posted in Social Media
Advertisers’ and brands’ use of social media influencers has continued to grow in importance as brands seek to reach new consumers while marketing to a widespread demographic. Traditionally, influencers are known as people who leverage their social media presence to endorse or promote a brand or product for some form of compensation. As influencers have … Continue Reading

When is a Chair not a Chair? Big Data Algorithms, Disparate Impact, and Considerations of Modular Programming

Photo of James A. ShererBy James A. Sherer on Posted in Information Governance, International Privacy Law, Social Media
The DESI VII Workshop titled “Using Advanced Data Analysis in eDiscovery & Related Disciplines to Identify and Protect Sensitive Information in Large Collections” was held on the Strand Campus of King’s College in London on June 12, 2017. DESI VII was particularly focused on privacy, and presented numerous papers that examined emerging protocols and novel … Continue Reading

FTC Clarifies Native and Online Ad Obligations

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Alan L. Friel and Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Marketing, Retail Industry, Social Media
The FTC, in recent staff statements, has sought to clarify advertisers’ and publishers’ obligations regarding native advertising and social media promotions, particularly regarding when and how to clarify to readers that a message is promotional and that the speaker has a material connection to the brand mentioned in the content. Further, the FTC has announced … Continue Reading

Social Media’s Not For You—It’s About You: Risks for Organizations in a New Age of Sharing

Photo of James A. ShererPhoto of Melinda L. McLellanBy James A. Sherer and Melinda L. McLellan on Posted in Data Breaches, Information Governance, International Privacy Law, Mobile Privacy, Privacy Litigation, Social Media, Workplace Privacy
Social media and social networking, including websites and applications that allow users to create and share content, have become ubiquitous. Joining the social networking revolution may be very easy for individuals, but establishing best practices for organizations that want or need to be actively engaged with social media is not. Initial considerations tend to focus … Continue Reading

Snapchat Settlement Signals Greater FTC Scrutiny for Tech Start-Up Privacy Policies

Photo of Pamela Jones HarbourBy Pamela Jones Harbour and Jenna N. Felz on Posted in Online Privacy, Social Media
By now, you have probably heard about the FTC’s recent settlement with Snapchat, the popular mobile photo and video messaging service, over allegations that it deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of messages sent through its service.  It did not take long for major media outlets to cover the story, highlighting both consumer … Continue Reading

FTC Says That Sponsors of Pinterest Contests Should Require Users to Post Pins with Hashtags Warning When Pins are Posted for a Prize

Photo of Gerald J. FergusonBy Gerald J. Ferguson and Alan M. Pate on Posted in Marketing, Social Media
In a March 20, 2014 closing letter sent to fashion company Cole Haan, the FTC warned that use of the hashtag #WanderingSole in conjunction with a recent Pinterest contest did not adequately communicate the “material connection” between Pinterest contestants and Cole Haan and violates Section 5 of the FTC Act. Although the FTC declined to … Continue Reading

When Can Online Terms of Use and Privacy Policies Be Changed?

By Alan L. Friel on Posted in Online Privacy, Social Media
Recently, a California court dismissed a plaintiff’s claims that Instagram’s updated Terms of Services constituted a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in all contacts because Instagram took expanded rights over user’s photos.  Rodriguez v Instagram, LLC  (California Superior Court of San Francisco Case CGC-13-532875) (February 28, 2014). We have … Continue Reading

Some Things Better Left Unshared: Social Media and Medical Identity Theft

By Anne Foster on Posted in Data Breaches, HIPAA/HITECH, Identity Theft, Medical Privacy, Social Media
The Washington Post recently published an article reminding individuals not to tweet or otherwise share information concerning their medical conditions on social media, warning that disclosing such information publicly “is akin to posting your address along with the dates you’ll be away on vacation.”  Quoting Jennifer Trussell, who investigates medical identity theft on behalf of … Continue Reading

Media Convergence and Privacy Attorney Alan Friel Joins BakerHostetler in LA

Photo of BakerHostetlerBy BakerHostetler on Posted in Behavioral Advertising, Marketing, Online Privacy, Social Media
BakerHostetler is proud to announce that Alan Friel has joined the firm, resident in the Los Angeles office and practicing in the Intellectual Property Group, as a key member of the Privacy and Data Protection and the Information Technology and Transaction teams. Friel’s practice focuses on intellectual property transactions, regulatory schemes, and privacy and consumer … Continue Reading

Legal concepts every social media marketer should know: Part IV – User Generated Content (Content Treasure Trove v. Legal Pandora’s Box)

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Marketing, Online Privacy, Social Media
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published on September 30, 2013, courtesy of iMedia Connection’s Blog. It is repurposed with permission. This post is co-authored by Alan M. Pate The most valuable resource in a marketing campaign can often be the very audience you are trying to reach. “User generated content,” or UGC, be … Continue Reading

Viacom v. YouTube Postscript–Copyright Infringement, Social Media and the Blurred Lines of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Safe Harbors

Photo of BakerHostetlerBy BakerHostetler on Posted in Social Media
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Bloomberg Law Reports ®. It is republished with permission. By Fernando A. Bohorquez Jr. and David M. McMillan, BakerHostetler More than a year after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s seminal opinion in Viacom v. YouTube, the contours of copyright infringement liability in the social … Continue Reading

Legal concepts every social media marketer should know: Part III — Use of third-party images, graphics, and content

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Marketing, Privacy Litigation, Social Media
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published on September 11, 2013, courtesy of iMedia Connection’s Blog. It is repurposed with permission. This post is co-authored by Alan M. Pate. It’s often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when it comes to running an online marketing campaign or social media site, … Continue Reading

Legal concepts every social media marketer should know: Part I — Consumer privacy

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Children’s Privacy, Marketing, Mobile Privacy, Online Privacy, Social Media
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published on August 12, 2013, courtesy of iMedia Connection’s Blog. It is repurposed with permission. This post is co-authored by Alan M. Pate. There are three things a social media website operator or digital marketer probably hates to hear most before  launching an online ad campaign: 1. Can you make … Continue Reading

Twitter v. Manhattan DA Fight Unfortunately Ends with a Whimper

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Social Media
This blog post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Discovery Advocate blog. Last Friday, Twitter’s battle with the Manhattan District Attorney over a subpoena for an Occupy Wall Street protester’s tweets came to an anti-climactic end as the New York appeals court dismissed Twitter’s appeal of a Manhattan Criminal Court’s order to produce the tweets … Continue Reading

SEC Greenlights Use of Social Media for Publicly Disclosing Company Information

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. on Posted in Social Media
Co-authored by: Jonathan Nowakowski Recognizing the reality that many investors likely get more information from Facebook and Twitter than a corporate 10-K and that most public companies have a robust social media presence, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently weighed in on the use of social media by public companies to disclose material … Continue Reading

Proposed FFIEC Guidance on Financial Institution Social Media Use

Photo of Craig A. HoffmanBy Craig A. Hoffman on Posted in Financial Privacy, Social Media
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released for comment on January 17 its proposed Social Media: Consumer Compliance Risk Management Guidance.  There is a 60-day comment period.  The purpose of the guidance is to help banks, savings associations, credit unions, and non-bank entities supervised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) understand and address … Continue Reading

Facebook Opens Door to Giving Your Personal Information to an Affiliated Ad Agency

Photo of Gerald J. FergusonBy Gerald J. Ferguson on Posted in Social Media
Give Facebook credit for candor. Facebook does not call the policy describing what it does with your personal information a “privacy policy”, but rather a “Data Use Policy”. The nomenclature is appropriate. The Facebook Data Use Policy is not so much about protecting the privacy of the information you share on Facebook as it is … Continue Reading

OMG! Does Your Doctor’s Facebook Status Violate HIPAA?

Photo of Lynn SessionsBy Lynn Sessions on Posted in Social Media
Co-authored by: Cory Fox Recently, the Federation of State Medical Boards (“the Federation”) released its Model Policy Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Guidelines”). The Guidelines are intended to address how physicians can utilize social media to facilitate patient care while still maintaining the privacy and confidentiality … Continue Reading

The NLRB Finds No Protected Activity Involved Where Employee is Fired for a Facebook Posting

Photo of Craig A. HoffmanBy Craig A. Hoffman on Posted in Social Media
Authorship credit: Jay Seegers  Like many people, Robert Becker, a salesperson at Karl Knauz Motors’ BMW dealership in Chicago, had his own Facebook page. When the BMW dealership served hot dogs, chips, and bottled water at an event to introduce a new BMW vehicle, Mr. Becker posted sarcastic comments questioning whether the dealership’s choice of … Continue Reading
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