As subscription models have gained exponential traction, legislatures are clamoring to ensure that their auto-renewal laws keep up with novel consumer protection issues. Several states have introduced or revised their auto-renewal laws, and the Federal Trade Commission has affirmed its
Socially Aware Blog
The Law and Business of Social Media
The Socially Aware Blog, published by Morrison & Foerster LLP, focuses on legal developments at the intersection of social media, technology, and consumer protection. It covers topics such as evolving auto-renewal laws for subscription services, social media platform policies and rebranding, intellectual property issues related to online content embedding, legislative challenges to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and emerging consumer contract regulations in digital services. The blog analyzes regulatory changes, court decisions, and policy debates affecting social media companies, digital platforms, and consumers, with attention to privacy, content moderation, copyright, and technology-driven legal challenges.
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Facebook rebrands as “Meta;” disables facial recognition capabilities
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 reality, and cryptocurrencies…
District Court Enjoins Controversial Texas Social Media “Censorship” Law
Over the past several years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the federal law that provides social media platforms with immunity from liability for user content and was once hailed as “the law that gave us the modern…
Social Links: Embedding social media posts can be considered copyright infringement…but is it?
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 infringement…but is it?
A Manhattan federal…
New “Two-Click Cancellation” Button – German Exceptionalism for Subscription Terminations
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., full text publicly available (in German) Germany will soon require specific…
Clubhouse faces steep challenges in spite of new features and expanded access
Clubhouse, the former invitation-only social media darling that captured the attention of investors, social media early adopters, and competitors since its introduction in April 2020, now faces significant challenges as it strives to remain relevant and attract new and…
Some Things Never Change… Including, Apparently, T&Cs in Germany
With a judgment dated April 27 and published on June 4, 2021, the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof – the “Court”) declared unfair and therefore illegal and unenforceable a common way to make changes to terms and conditions (“T&Cs”) used vis-à-vis…
Northern District of California Holds that Section 230 Applies to App Store
By Aaron Rubin & Scott Chen
While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act continues to face significant calls for reform or even elimination, the recent Coffee v. Google case illustrates that Section 230 continues to provide broad protection to online service providers.
In Coffee…
Click Yes to Accept: Fairness and Transparency in Consumer Contracts in Europe
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 an online consumer contract, a UK court recently showed that principles of fairness and transparency …
Mitigating User Content Risk After EU Copyright Directive
Partner Christiane Stuetzle, senior associate Patricia Ernst, and research assistant Susan Bischoff authored an article for Law360 covering how online content service providers must act to mitigate risks and avoid liability under the European Union’s Copyright Directive, created in an effort to…