Presentation on Chapter 9: Law and Regulation

1. Chapter 9: Law and Regulation
By: Paige Bollman, AJ Hung-Barnes, Susan
Morales, and Julia Ramirez-Vaughan

2. “What a lot of people don’t
realize is that when they decide
to start a blog or post
comments … they are
potentially making themselves
open to being liable to the laws
of that country.”
- Anthony Fargo (2012)
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

3. Christopher Peter Tarquini (Facebook)
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

4. Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
● Have protection from
liability for libel.
Example: AOL cannot be
sued for potential libelous
content distributed by an
individual using the network.
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

5. Facebook,
Twitter and the
Law
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
● From zero to hundreds of
social media cases per
year
● Eroding freedom of
speech?

6. Tatro v.
University of
Minnesota
(2012)
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Posts:

7. Tatro v. University of Minnesota (2012)
Outcome
In the beginning:
● Barred from lab during investigation
● Allowed to return to take final examinations
● Tatro testified at a hearing that she did not understand Facebook fell under a rule that prohibited
blogging
Punishments:
● A grade of “F” in the course
● Must complete an ethics course
● Write a letter to faculty
● Complete a psychiatric evaluation
● Probation for remainder of undergraduate work
(Rejection of First Amendment argument)
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

8. Facebook Terms & Conditions
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
● When you sign up, you agree to Terms of Service (TOS)
contract
● 3 Categories (Rights and Responsibilities, Data Use,
Community Standards)
● 2013 Revision on Facebook (current may 2014) for data
policy

9. Facebook Terms & Conditions
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
● “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you
control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings...”
● Deleted content, “may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time
(but will not be available to others…”
● Facebook TOS contact states, “will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user …
will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites
violence; or contains nudity …”
● Convicted sex offenders are not allowed to use Facebook under the rules.

10. Terms and Conditions Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=336H5bdIFq0&t=26s

11. Emerging Twitter Law
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
● Tweets create a legal record of communication and
behavior
● 4 potential lawsuit areas (company secrets, invasion of
privacy/defamation, trademark violations and wrongful
employee termination claims)

12. Emerging Twitter Law
Example: 2009 Horizon Group Management sued tenant
Amanda Bonnen for $50,000 after tweeting:
“You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a
moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks
it’s okay.”
Bonnen only had 20 Twitter followers … case was
dismissed because Tweet was too vague.
Lipschultz, J. H. (2015). Social media communication: concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

13. International Social Media
● Nearly half of Internet users, 44.8%, are located in Asia.
● The fastest growing regions for Internet users are Africa and Europe.
● Countries with filtered Internet use, such as China, expand using their own social
networking site. Example: Weibo, a Twitter-like social media app.
● In 2009, China was in the lead for most Internet users but with freedom as a concern,
the government pressured computer companies to pre-instal filtering softwares to limit
Internet usage.
● From Asia to the Middle East, open social media communication challenges traditional
legal restrictions.

14. International Cyber Crime
● Broad issues of global cyber crime fall under the relatively new area of “Internet
governance”, which address a variety of activities.
● The United Nations established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
● The IGF addresses global Internet governance issues, such as marketing of counterfeit
medicines or online pharmacies marketing nationally regulated drugs.
● Social media and the communication it allows makes the Internet subject to free speech
debates, especially in the Eastern world.

15. Prior Restraint and Terrorism
● In 1931, the Supreme Court established an American prior restraint doctrine identifying where
legal lines can be drawn in terms of: threats to national security, times where publication
might insight violent overthrow of government, and publishing fighting words or obscenities.
● Prior restraint law places a burden on government to limit a speaker before online publication,
but it does not protect them from punishment through civil lawsuit or the criminal justice
system.
“The internet has enabled terrorist organizations to research and coordinate attacks; to expand the
reach of their propaganda to a global audience; to communicate with international supporters; and
to foster public awareness and sympathy for their causes.” -Professor Gabriel Weinmann.

16. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
Opposed to the United States, the UK has clear guidelines set by the CPS for prosecution of social
media communication; the goal is to find balance between protecting individuals and allowing for
balanced freedom of speech. Criteria for CPS includes:
● Communications which may constitute credible threats of violence to the person or damage of
property.
● Communications which specifically target an individual or individuals and may constitute
harassment or stalking.
● Communications which may amount to a breach of a court order.
● Communications which do not fall into any of these categories above but which may be
considered: grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or false.

17. Continued CPS Guidelines on Prosecuting Cases
Involving Social Media (pg. 169)
● U.S AND U.K may issue a restraining order against online
stalkers
● U.K restricts grossly offensive indecent obscene or false
communication
British refer to Article 10 on European Convention on Human
Rights:
● All have right to freedom of expression.
● Clear evidence of an intention to cause distress or anxiety.
● Age is also considered because children and young people

18. U.S Internet Indecency (pg. 170)
● The Telecommunication Act of 1996/Communications Decency
Act (CDA):
○ Set the stage for several attempts to regulate the Internet
○ It made it illegal to knowingly send or make available to
minors any indecent or obscene material.
● U.S Supreme Court, found part of CDA’S indecency provisions
unconstitutional
● Reno vs. ACLU (1997): Congress acknowledged concern for
children

19. U.S Internet Indecency (pg. 170)
● Website operators act as publishers
○ May make their material available to all
Internet users
○ The Court wanted narrowly tailored
restrictions on Internet speech as well as
application of traditional obscenity law
● Courts use Miller v. California (1973) to define
obscenity across all media including social media
● Miller Test
○ 1. Prurient Interest/Lewd Interest.
○ 2. Patently Offensive.
○ 3. Value of Work.

20. U.S Internet Indecency (pg. 170)
● Justice John Paul Stevens understood that prurient appeal is a problem
○ For social media, it can be difficult to identify “the work” in the context of “a
whole”, as mobile social platforms like Snapchat are brief and temporary
○ The value test is a matter of generational and cultural definition
○ Pornography spammers continue to be a problem, and Facebook is among those
social media sites filing lawsuits to stop it (Crook, 2013).

21. Regulated Media Technologies (pg. 171)
● U.S global media “imperialism” through traditional channels (Innis, 1972, p. 169) are also is being
weakened in the 21st century by social media
● U.S government maintains a regulatory interest in information accuracy and consumer
perception of claims.

22. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● The relationship between the journalist and the news consumer has had the greatest impact from social
media.
● Journalists learned how to let their social communities actively engage with the writing process. This can
be dangerous because information can be misinterpreted
● Social media requires journalists to have a transparent relationship with news consumers
● integrated social media marketing plan to move them to the end product: TV, online, and mobile news.

23. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● In Montano’s opinion, a large majority of social media users, as well as journalists, do not
understand how the social networks actually work.
● Journalists are told social media can be the reason a person chooses their story over another, but
the begin to find out that just using them doesn’t mean the audience follows.
● Journalists with social media can become a trusted source of information; however, finding an
ethical balance is a mystery. When could they voice opinions or commentary?
● Journalists and news organizations have new opportunities through the continued development of
digital and mobile products that make it easier for the news consumer to access and engage with
the story.

24. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● Digital and mobile apps need to focus on social sharing and user generated
content.
● Social sharing is vital in keeping and creating loyal news consumers.
● Viewer/reader generated content not only helps build out a story, but can be
a motivator for someone to choose one news report over another.
● People want information that will impact their lives in some way.
● Partnerships with experts help provide expertise

25. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● Weaving one’s personal life with his work and public life on social
media is truly an art form. Anything posted on social media can
have an impact on one’s employment.
● Disclaimers in “bio” sections provide no protection
● Law protects an individual’s right to free speech and protects an
individual from giving network passwords to employers

26. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● However, nothing is truly private on social media and the
right to have a job in not protected by law. One’s use of
social media becomes one’s personal brand.
● Employers have the right to protect their company profile
and brand
.
● Employers have the right to search the digital footprint of its
employees.
● Employers usually don’t seek out employee activity online.
Instead employers find out what has been said or done
because of other’s sharing their reaction to it.

27. BOX. 9.4 Thought Leader Misty Montano
Digital Content Manager for 9 NEWS in Denver, Colorodo. Emmy award-winning journalist.
● When public reaction snowballs into a mob mentality, an employer has the right to determine if
what is happening is damaging to the company and to take actions against that employee
● Misty Montano: Don’t BE the news.
● Think first and be smart in all you do
● Behave on social media the way you would behave in front of the important people in your life
● If you wouldn’t say or do it in front of these people, then don’t do it on social media.

28. FTC Regulation
● FTC (Federal Trade Commission) regulates
advertising in the U.S. from a legal standpoint.
● Goal is consumer protection → preventing fraud in
the marketplace
● Defined deception in advertising as giving a
consumer a false impression → disclosure needs to
be written clear
● Since the “digital age” the FTC’s job has gotten more
crucial involving; computer security, online safety of
children, identity theft

29. FTC Regulation Cont’d
● There have been investigations involving the supreme court and FTC
● Commercial speech, defined by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as “expression
related solely to the economic interests of the speaker and its audience”
● Disclosures need to be located in places where they will be seen
● 2004, FTC investigated Amazon.com’s online Toy Store because of concerns over
protection of child privacy.

30. FTC and Social Media
● FTC revised their guidelines to accommodated social networking sites and social media marketing
→ FTC says financial arrangements between bloggers and advertisers may not be apparent to readers.
● EX” FTC filed a complaint against Facebook for deceptive or unfair privacy practices
○ They made a set of rules to make sure that Facebook follows their privacy settings and does not
mislead people
Copyright, File Sharing and Fair Use
● Copyright protects material upon its creation → the creator has rights to reproduce and distribute
● There is a long history of copyright issues (music or video bootleggers) which caused the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 which addressed loopholes in streaming media.

31. Social Media Privacy Issues
● Sites such as Facebook are often a threat when it comes to privacy rights
● Employees at work - Limited privacy
● Companies are required to warn users about the data and user locations the
website or app collects
● Documents released in 2013 by NSA contractor raised concerns about
government surveillance of communication networks

32. Let’s see what you learned!