M&A activity in 2023 was subdued, as dealmakers grappled with geopolitical tensions, inflation, rising interest rates, and increasing regulatory scrutiny, against a backdrop of general economic uncertainty. Challenges in the...more
1/4/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Big Tech ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
CFIUS ,
Data Security ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Shareholder Activism ,
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) ,
UK ,
Vertical Mergers
In this second installment of our six-part series examining Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes online service providers from liability stemming from the publication and...more
11/15/2023
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Defamation ,
Distributors ,
Immunity ,
Online Platforms ,
Publishers ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 230 ,
Third-Party ,
User-Generated Content ,
Website Owner Liability
In this second installment of our six-part series examining Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes online service providers from liability stemming from the publication and...more
On October 11, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed rule to prohibit so-called junk fees, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion to large banks and credit unions...more
10/17/2023
/ Advisory Opinions ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
FTC Act ,
Hidden Fees ,
Proposed Rules ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
In Jaime Rogozinski v. Reddit Inc, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney for the Northern District of California dismissed WALLSTREETBETS Reddit community founder Jamie Rogozinski’s claims against Reddit for trademark...more
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...more
Here at Socially Aware we talk a lot about Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes social media platforms and other online service providers from liability stemming from content...more
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...more
In May 2023, Steven Schwartz of Levidow, Levidow & Oberman admitted that he used a generative AI (GAI) platform to produce six non-existent court decisions as citations during his representation in a personal injury case...more
Section 23o, the “26 words that changed the Internet,” is once again under scrutiny from lawmakers.
At the federal level, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary panel’s subcommittee on privacy, technology, and...more
In early March 2022, a coalition of state attorneys general launched an investigation of TikTok to determine whether the social media platform, which is popular among young Americans, causes long-term harm to them....more
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...more
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...more
12/21/2021
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Facebook ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
JAMA ,
LinkedIn ,
Pinterest ,
Rebranding ,
Social Media ,
Technology ,
Video Recordings ,
Websites
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.
Embedding social media posts can be considered copyright...more
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 the first two quarters of this year alone. Romance scams and...more
The 1914 Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or “the Commission”) and empowered it to prevent, and provide redress to consumers affected by, unfair methods of competition and unfair...more
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to impact business, markets, and society at large, our attorneys who work with private equity (PE) clients in the U.S. have been having conversations with those clients about...more
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 the relationship between a social media “influencer” and the brand...more
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 she is endorsing must be disclosed. This new guidance from FTC...more
We start this issue with a feeling of déjà vu all over again. Decisions made during the mortgage crisis are back in the news with a powerhouse legal ruling and the Treasury’s initial thinking on how to turn back time. First,...more
9/12/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Fair Lending ,
FDIC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
GAO ,
HUD ,
Libor ,
Money Laundering ,
No-Action Letters ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SHIELD Act ,
TCPA ,
Volcker Rule
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 case had the potential to upend a copyright and Internet-law rule...more
EDITOR’S NOTE -
In the words of Willie Wonka: “Wait a minute — strike that, reverse it!” As loyal readers will recall, in our last issue, we tried to stay current in referring to the CFPB by what Mick Mulvaney declared...more
3/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Fair Lending ,
FDIC ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Payday Loans ,
TCPA ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Volcker Rule
Patients accumulate vast quantities of healthcare data over the course of their lives. Those data are generally housed in centralized servers operated by various unrelated industry participants, including government...more
Most companies are familiar with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its requirement to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information online from children under 13. Yet COPPA also...more
Late last week, the D.C. Court of Appeals issued its much-anticipated ruling in ACA International et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 15-1211 (Mar. 16, 2018).The ruling appears to pare back significantly the...more