Social Media Legal Considerations for Young Professionals
Presented by Scott MacMullan  Law, LLC
April 9, 2013 Annapolis Rotaract Meeting Talk
1. Introduction – disclaimer – This information presented should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor form a lawyer/client relationship.
Social Media Legal Considerations for Young Professionals
2. Four topics tonight
a. Whatever you post on Facebook can and will be used against you in a court of law.
b. Best Practice Blogging
c. Drunk Tweeting!
d. Employment Law and Social Media
1. Facebook Posts
a. Big Source of Evidence – most of my trials involve it
b. Civil and Criminal Cases
c. Family Law Cases it is big
i. E.g. Case: Florida man says he is poor so he doesn’t have to pay support. Posts show a Ferrari and a yacht.
1. ISSUE: SCREENSHOT or Print it out! They are taken down quickly after a lawyer advises to do so.
**Subpoena Facebook is expensive ($600+) and fruitless. You really only get the basic info. Facebook does not want to deal with subpoena requests.
d. Criminal Case – actus reus and mens rea. Act and state of mind.
a. Facebook shows these elements of the crime!
b. Holding endangered species they killed in pictures
c. Wildlife Commission trolls Facebook
d. People in their posts might actually admit to crimes or say their motivation for a crime.
2. Best Practice Blogging
a. Buy or make your own content!!
i. Don’t just copy and use Google images.
ii. Linking versus Lifting
1. It is OK to link but not ok to lift or steal or plagiarize content in your blog.
b. General rule for blog comments: The blog owner is not liable for those comments UNLESS the blog owner republishes those comments or changes those comments.
3. Drunk Tweeting!
a. Please think before you Tweet! Why?
b. Evidence in Cases (Library of Congress Index) and Defamation Cases and Harassment Cases
c. False statement, public, negligent, and actual damages
d. This is a highly litigated area of the law – people sue for libel which is written defamation. In other words someone is suing because someone made up a lie and told enough people about the lie that the person was hurt in some way.
i. Issues: False statement?
ii. Was there publication of the tweet? E.g Case someone alleged someone beat her. The tweet was public from 12 midnight to 6 am in the morning. How many people actually saw this tweet?
4. Employment Law and Social Media
a. **Big Maryland Rule in October 2012. Applies to you: Both public and private employers
i. Prohibits employers from requesting your social media usernames and passwords.
ii. Makes it illegal to deny you employment if you refuse to do so.
iii. Protects existing employees if they opt not to give employers access to social media accounts.
b. Recruiters can still look at your Facebook account BUT they should be careful
i. If recruiters friend you. E.g. Case friend foursquare and saw she checkedin at a Mosque. The company was sued for discrimination when she did not get the job.
c. Social Media Policy
i. Review your company’s policy
ii. If company does not have one and you are in the position — have your company get a social media policy for new hires.
d. Hoot Suite
i. If you are an employee and you control a company’s social media (AND A LOT OF TIMES YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ARE THE SOCIAL MEDIA PERSON) –such as the company’s twitter account. DON’T use HOOT SUITE.
1. E.g. Case: KitchenAid Tweet
a. Obama’s Grandma didn’t want Barack to be president. That is why she died 3 days before his inauguration.
I’ll post an outline of this on my website. And I wish you the best. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
443-494-9775 or [email protected]
www.macmullanlaw.com
Questions?