A recent Facebook Platform Policy change may affect the way many promotions are run on Facebook. The change, effective November 5, 2014, prohibits Facebook Page owners from requiring a user to “like” their Page in order to access content, such as entry into a contest or sweepstakes, via a Facebook application (“App”). Advertisers often use this technique, known as “like-gating,” as a way to increase the amount of likes their Pages receive.

Facebook believes that a prohibition on like-gating will benefit both advertisers and consumers. In announcing the change, Facebook stated in a blog post: “[T]o ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives.”

A like can be valuable to an advertiser, regardless of whether it is generated organically or artificially. When a user likes a Facebook Page, the like may appear on the user’s Timeline, stories from the Page may show up on the user’s news feeds, and users may also appear in advertisements for that Page.
Continue Reading But I Thought They Really Liked Me! Facebook’s Prohibition on Like-Gating Apps

The FDA recently issued a warning to a Swiss drug company for failing to include on its Facebook page a product’s risk information and limitations. Although this type of enforcement activity involving drugmaker conduct on social media has been rather uncommon, it is a stern reminder for companies that the FDA is monitoring activity, and that its marketing and advertising rules apply to product promotion over social media networks as well. For additional information on this story, read the latest post on our firm’s Life Sciences Legal Update blog.
Continue Reading FDA to Drug Companies: We Are Watching – Even on Social Media

In an effort to make administration of promotions on Facebook easier, the social media site released new rules permitting Facebook Page owners to host promotions and giveaways on their Page timelines. While hosting a promotion on a Page timeline is certainly more convenient and likely more cost effective for businesses from an administration standpoint, it does have disadvantages that businesses should keep in mind, such as the inability to require users to agree to Official Rules of the promotion and the inability to collect personal data about participants.
Continue Reading Facebook Relaxes Guidelines for Promotions

As social media has increasingly become intertwined with everyday life, it may be taking a couple steps further – this time in the U.S. courts. In recent weeks, we have seen that U.S. legislators and courts are gaining a greater acceptance towards the use of social media sites like Facebook to effect service of process.

This post was also written by Christine Nielsen.

Yielding to pressure from advertisers, ad agencies, the media, consumers, and, perhaps, the FTC, Facebook has agreed to place The Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) “AdChoices” logo on ads served on its site via its FBX ad exchange. The move makes Facebook more accountable for educating users

Earlier this year, we analyzed some privacy considerations with a class action lawsuit against Facebook accusing the social media giant of violating the rights of users through its “Sponsored Stories” advertising program. Per the Complaint, Facebook would not only display such ads, but would also use the “names, photographs, likenesses, and identities” of Facebook users to help promote the product to friends of those users. The Complaint alleged that a user would be associated with a product by choosing to click a “Like” button, and would then be automatically associated with the corresponding ad campaign, without compensation and allegedly without the user’s consent.
Continue Reading Facebook Tries to Settle ‘Sponsored Stories’ Class Action . . . Again

It’s the latest set-back for social media behemoth, Facebook. After a rocky three months since its IPO where investors have seen shares fall by around 50%, a German advocacy group has accused the social network of violating privacy laws. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) has demanded that Facebook obtain an explicit consent before

On August 25, 2011, Facebook and Lamebook, a self-described “fun humor blog” which highlights funny, absurd and “lame” things people post on Facebook, settled their trademark dispute. The dispute began in early 2010 with Facebook sending Lamebook a cease-and-desist letter to change its name and stop using the Lamebook mark. After months of discussions between the parties

This post was written by Spencer Wein.

Facebook has rolled out a new feature that uses photo recognition technology to suggest friends’ names to tag in uploaded photos. While certainly an impressive feature, the problem is that the social network giant introduced the feature as a default setting rather than as an opt-in option. This has left