Social Media Tag Archives — Kang Haggerty News

Legal Intelligencer: ‘Depp v. Heard’: Public Trials and the Social Media Era

June 17, 2022 | Edward T. Kang

Depp-v-Heard-1024x538 Beyond the substantive legal matters at issue, one procedural aspect of the trial has also generated significant attention; namely, that the entire proceeding was livestreamed for the public. We discuss below the pros and cons of such coverage, the history of recording devices in courtrooms, as well as provide recommendations for balancing the countervailing concerns at issue.

In the June 16, 2022 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward T. Kang co-authored, “‘Depp v. Heard’: Public Trials and the Social Media Era.” Continue reading ›

Legal Intelligencer: What Makes a Market, a Market, Anyway? A Look at Social Media

March 17, 2022 | Edward T. Kang

Whether you bring a suit over a complicated product like a social media network or a simple tangible product, like an apple, a relevant product and geographic market must be defined properly to succeed.

In the March 17, 2022 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward T. Kang wrote “What Makes a Market, a Market, Anyway? A Look at Social Media.”

Picture an antitrust action against an apple farmer who supplies almost all the apples in America. If you were bringing the suit for antitrust violation, how would you define the market for an apple? Is it the market for a snack? For healthy snacks? For healthy handheld snacks? For fruits? The list could go on and on. Defining the market for an antitrust analysis becomes far more complicated for products or services that are newer, such as the market for social media networks. When it comes to the Sherman Act one may think that because it has been combatting monopolies for over a century, there can be no room for interpretation about what constitutes a monopoly, much less a market for one. In the past 100 years, however, new markets and questions about those markets have risen. Social media networks probably did not come across the minds of the Sherman Act’s drafters in 1890. Continue reading ›

Social Media and the SEC: Elon Musk is Still Tweeting

March 1, 2019 | Jacklyn Fetbroyt

32891617344_251b416fd3_o-1024x512-1 Social media continues to grow as the powerhouse of information flow in modern times, and while it often seems no one is policing the content and fact and fiction are often indistinguishable, the SEC is policing the statements of at least one social media influencer, Elon Musk. After Musk tweeted in August of 2018 that he had secured financing to take Tesla private at $420 per share, the SEC filed a complaint alleging that his tweets comprised a series of “false and misleading statements” to his millions of followers. The resulting court-approved settlement, reached in October, stipulated that Musk had to seek pre-approval of any written communications – including social media posts – that contained or reasonably could contain information material to Tesla or its shareholders. In connection with the settlement, Tesla and Musk were each required to pay $20 million to the SEC.

Just days ago, Musk was back under scrutiny, having tweeted, “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019” without pre-approval from his counsel and for that, the SEC filed an enforcement motion seeking to have Musk held in contempt. Continue reading ›

Legal Intelligencer: Court Provides Guidance on the Authentication of Social Media Posts, Or Does It?

April 13, 2018 | Edward T. Kang

In the April 12, 2018 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang, Managing Member of Kang Haggerty, writes Court Provides Guidance on the Authentication of Social Media Posts, Or Does It?

Facebook has been making headlines lately over claims it shared personal data on more than 87 million people to the political data firm, Cambridge Analytica for use in the 2016 presidential election. In the midst of the Cambridge Analytica chaos, the Pennsylvania Superior Court provided long-overdue guidance on the authentication of posts from Facebook and other social media platforms.

Facebook has been making headlines lately over claims it shared personal data on more than 87 million people to the political data firm, Cambridge Analytica for use in the 2016 presidential election. In the midst of the Cambridge Analytica chaos, the Pennsylvania Superior Court provided long-overdue guidance on the authentication of posts from Facebook and other social media platforms. In the criminal case of Commonwealth v. Mangel, 2018 PA Super 57 (Mar. 15, 2018), a case of first impression in Pennsylvania, the Superior Court held that Facebook posts are not admissible without evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, substantiating the authorship of the messages, see Daniel E. Cummins, “Authentication in the Digital Age: In Recent Cases, Old and New Collide,” The Legal Intelligencer, April 5, 2018, and Zack Needles’ “Superior Court Adopts Standard for Authenticating Social Media Posts,” The Legal Intelligencer, March 21, 2018, for excellent discussions on the Mangel case.

10 Ways to Legally Control Your Employees Social Media

February 17, 2015 | Kang Haggerty LLC

When considering creating a social media policy, it is important to keep in mind that you will never be able to completely control social media use by your employees. There are, however, a few ways that you can successfully create a social media policy that will allow you to place legal boundaries around media use.

1. Create a Policy and BE Informative: Notify your Employees that you are creating a policy. Keeping them informed mitigates future “I didn’t know” excuses. Also, employees have the legal right to be informed about any new policy change or creation.

2. BE Informed: Before you start drafting anything, be informed about recent legislation regarding Social Media policies and cases that have created different interpretations of existing policies. Three major examples are: