In the swirl of scrutiny surrounding the big Silicon Valley tech companies and with some in Congress declaiming that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) should be curtailed, 2019 has quietly been an important year for CDA jurisprudence with a number of opinions enunciating robust immunity under CDA Section 230. In particular, there … Continue Reading
UPDATE: On June 14, 2019, the Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished two-page decision, affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the case. This week, the District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the Gullen putative class action asserting Illinois biometric privacy claims brought by “non-users” based on evidence that the social media site did not … Continue Reading
Facebook recently announced that it would make changes to its news feed to prioritize content that users share and discuss and material from “reputable publishers.” These changes are part of what Mark Zuckerberg says is a refocusing of Facebook from “helping [users] find relevant content to helping [users] have more meaningful social interactions.” This refocus … Continue Reading
UPDATE: In late October 2016, the parties notified the court that they were in discussions to settle the matter and would jointly stipulate to a dismissal of the action without prejudice. On November 2nd, the court dismissed the action. Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, also known as the “Communications Decency Act of … Continue Reading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gave disclosures made through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter a conditional “thumbs up” in a Report of Investigation it released on April 2, 2013. Issuers of securities, the SEC stated, can use social media to disseminate material, nonpublic information without having to make any other disclosures … Continue Reading
In this era of multiple online communication channels, and in an environment of increased employee mobility, employers need to focus on the legal and practical ways of securing their ownership of online company accounts that are registered or otherwise created by employees or contractors. In the three cases discussed below, organizations learned that lesson the … Continue Reading
