Ashley Hurst, a partner at Olswang in London, delivers his hit list on what all brands need to know to navigate the complex world of social media law. Hurst made this presentation at Social Media Influence 2012 on 12 June, 2012.

1. Social media and the law
12 June 2012
Ashley Hurst

2. Are twitter users
Who owns my LinkedIn account? bound by injunctions
on others?
Which laws Who owns my Twitter handle?
apply to data Can I re-use a tweet
stored overseas? outside of Twitter?
Is service of
Should we pre-
documents
moderate or post-
through Twitter Should we pre-vet moderate?
or Facebook valid? tweets?
C a n I c o p y /p a s t e a p h o t o f r o m
Howc e Ib o o anonymous internet users?
F a do trace k ?
2 www.olswang.com

3. What are the legal issues?
• Legal Liability
• Protection of intellectual property
• Copyright
• Trade marks
• Databases
• Employment law issues
• Contempt of court
• Breach of court orders
• Prejudicing criminal trials
• Collection and use of data
• Regulatory compliance
3 www.olswang.com

4. Defamation
I am not a cheat, Chris Cairns tells court in
Twitter libel trial
Josh Halliday
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 March 2012 16.53 GMT
The former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns arrives at the high court in London . Photograph:
Carl Court/ AFP/Getty Images
The former New Zealand cricket captain Chris Cairns has angrily denied allegations of match -fixing
during a libel trial at the high court in London .
Cairns said repeatedly "I am not a cheat " as he was cross -examined by the QC acting for Lalit Modi ,
the ex-chairman of the Indian Premier League . Cairns is suing Modi over what he described as an
"unequivocal allegation " of match-fixing made on Twitter .
4 www.olswang.com

5. Private/Confidential information
9 March 2012 Last updated at 08:28
Arrest after BPAS abortion advice service
site hacked
A man suspected of computer hacking is being
questioned by police after the website of one of
Britain's largest abortion providers was accessed.
The 27-year-old claims to have links to hacktivist group
Anonymous.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service(BPAS) said no
medical or personal information relating to women who There were claims the names of people who had received terminations would be released
had received treatment had been accessed .
But it took out a court injunction after details of people who requested information was compromised
.
Police said they were alerted to allegations that the BPAS website had been hacked on Thursday
.
Claims later appeared on Twitter that the culprit had accessed the names of women who had undergone terminations
and was threatening to release them into the public domain .
5 www.olswang.com

6. Ownership of LinkedIn/Twitter
accounts
Company Sues Ex-Employee Because He Kept His Personal
Twitter Account & Followers
from the tweet-tweet dept
Well, well, well. Look at this. Just about a year ago , we wrote a blog post questioning who "owned" a Twitter account when
someone was an employee of a company and had built up a big "personal" Twitter following in that role ... but then left the
company. The example we used was CNN's Rick Sanchez. That one never hit a legal conflict , but it really was only a matter of time .
Venkat Balasubramani alerts us to a case in which the company PhoneDog sued a former employee because he kept his Twitter
account. A couple of important points right upfront . This was not "the" PhoneDog Twitter account. The company had its own
specific Twitter account . The employee in question , Noah Kravitz, simply named his account "@PhoneDog_Noah", which has
become a fairly standard naming pattern among employees of certain companies -- using both the company name and their own
name as part of the handle . Also, once Kravitz left PhoneDog , he switched the account to @noahkravitz. PhoneDog still sued ,
claiming (1) misappropriation of trade secrets , (2) interference with economic advantage ; and (3) conversion.
6 www.olswang.com

7. What are the practical issues?
• A consistent and integrated policy
framework
• Social media monitoring and moderation
• Notice and take-down
• Serving court orders
• Identifying anonymous internet users
• Crisis response
7 www.olswang.com

8. Social Media Compliance
Framework
Social Media Compliance Framework
Corporate Social
Media Policy
Employment IT
Policies Policies
Employment
Contract
Employee Communications Data Security Data Retention
Handbook Policy Policy Policy
Employee Social Media
Monitoring
Policy
Training Training
8 www.olswang.com

9. Notice and take down
Practical tips for notice and take-down letters:
• The approach varies between website operators (Google and Twitter reluctant to
remove defamatory material)
• Look to base take down request on copyright, privacy, T&C’s instead
• Consider timing – will removal stoke the hornets nest?
• Use a legal letter to the legal department as well as online abuse mechanisms
• Surgically remove only as necessary
• Try to persuade the website operator not to tip off the user
• Provide full URL links and screenshots
• Keep monitoring
9 www.olswang.com

10. Crisis response
• Effective monitoring
• Clear lines of reporting and
escalation route
• Training and empowering key
employees to respond appropriately
to online complaints
• Knowing when to do nothing
• Surgical removal of material
• Establishing a crisis team
10 www.olswang.com

11. Crisis team
11 www.olswang.com

12. Questions
For more information
please contact:
Ashley Hurst
+44 207 067 3486
ashley.hurst@olswang.com
6091687v2