Douglas Wood published an article for the Association of National Advertisers on January 2nd titled “Growth in 2019: A Legal Perspective.” In the article, Doug discusses how legal issues will affect brands and growth in years to come and provides an outlook on legal challenges marketers who care about growth need to keep in

Several women and the Communications Workers of America have brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against Facebook and 10 employers who advertise on the social network, alleging that the companies are in violation of laws prohibiting sex-based job discrimination.

By allowing employers to target job ads based on gender and seek only men

On August 15, Danielle A. Singer and her company Project Therapy, LLC (dba Therapy Threads) filed a class-action complaint against Facebook, Inc. over its claims concerning ad audiences. According to the Complaint, Facebook overstates its audience metrics in order to induce advertisers to spend money on ads on the platform.

The plaintiffs allege, in part,

Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California recently administered the coup de grâce to an expansive multidistrict litigation over Facebook’s data use policy filed in 2012. The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s data use and privacy policy violated the federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, California consumer

Responding to news reports that journalists were able to purchase advertising on Facebook targeted to ethnic groups, Facebook announced several new changes to the company’s advertising products. The move highlights heightened scrutiny of advertising practices surrounding the increasing use of big data in many aspects of marketing and advertising.

Facebook’s response grew out of a

Yesterday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) and the Center for Digital Democracy (“CDD”) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against WhatsApp, Inc. According to the complaint, WhatsApp posted an entry on its company blog on August 25, 2016 announcing an update to its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The updated Privacy

On October 30, 2015, Facebook, Inc. posted an important win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a non-precedential decision, the court upheld the federal district court’s dismissal of a complaint filed by a proposed class of minor Facebook users. The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s terms of use—specifically, a provision granting Facebook the right to use the plaintiffs’ names and likenesses—as applied to the proposed class, was void under California law. By ruling for Facebook, the Ninth Circuit’s stance in this case reminds us that courts will treat online terms and conditions as binding agreements between website owners and its users, and resolve disputes falling within such terms’ governance using traditional contract law principles.
Continue Reading Facebook Posts Important Advertising Law Win

Sensitive to the expanding diversity of the online community, the world’s largest social network has taken a step to curb highly contentious postings.

On March 16, Facebook revamped its community guidelines, detailing what is and is not acceptable behavior on the site. With social media playing an ever-increasing role in the news and current events,

A recent district court case reminds companies and brand owners to establish clear guidelines or contractual rights with respect to brand-related social media pages’ administration and ownership.

Plaintiff Stacey Mattocks independently ran an un-official Facebook fan page which focused on the TV show the “Game”. After Black Entertainment Television network (BET) acquired rights to the TV show, it hired Mattocks to promote and grow the brand on the page and provided exclusive content and IP to Mattocks. During Mattocks’ employment, the number of page “likes” grew from 2 million to 6 million. Mattocks had granted BET full access to the page to update content but later, during a dispute involving Mattocks’ terms of employment, Mattocks demoted BET’s ability to access the page without her approval and claimed ownership of the page. BET approached the social media platform to regain control and Mattocks filed suit for various claims against BET (such as breach of contract and tortious interference with contract).

While social media platforms offer certain protections to companies and some include official or verification procedures, this kind of litigation and expense could have been avoided with more careful planning with respect to allocation of rights and ownership up front.
Continue Reading Brand Owners: Do You Know Your Social Media Ownership Rights?