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Meta’s Bay State Blues: Mass. High Court Finds Another Crack in the Section 230 Shield
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April 20, 2026
Meta’s Bay State Blues: Mass. High Court Finds Another Crack in the Section 230 Shield
By: Robert Ward
Meta’s Bay State Blues: Mass. High Court Finds Another Crack in the Section 230 Shield Mere weeks after juries in California and New Mexico returned multi-million-dollar verdicts against Meta Platforms, Inc., the social media company suffered another defeat. On April 10, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) rejected the social media company’s attempt to raise Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield against the Massachusetts Attorney General’s lawsuit alleging that the company, along with Instagram LLC, designed the Instagram platform to foster compulsive use among children. Like the plaintiff in the California case, the Attorney General alleges that Meta implemented a “suite of design features that exploit [young] users’ neurological vulnerability to social media addiction,” including “infinite…
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Thinking about adding an AI Chatbot? Some key considerations.
February 17, 2026
Thinking about adding an AI Chatbot? Some key considerations.
By: Steven Hess
Many companies are thinking about how to deploy new AI systems to automate routine work and to improve their product. For many businesses, adding an AI chatbot is a valuable way to enhance the customer experience by automating routine conversations,[1] and by alerting customers to new deals and offerings that are relevant to them.[2] Coupled with the rising ubiquity of AI chatbots in modern life,[3]…
Is Scrolling the New Smoking?
January 21, 2026
Is Scrolling the New Smoking?
By: Lauren Scribner
In the final weeks of 2025, New York passed a law requiring social media platforms with “certain predatory features” to display warning labels about “the dangerous impact” those features pose to the mental health of users under the age of eighteen.[1] These so-called “predatory features” include continuous and infinite scrolling, displaying addictive feeds, and automatically playing video content.[2] Warning labels will be displayed upon the…
Overstock Case Could Alter the Landscape of Price Comparison Advertising
January 31, 2014
Overstock Case Could Alter the Landscape of Price Comparison Advertising
By: Ifrah Law
A California court ruled earlier this month that Overstock must pay a roughly $6.8 million penalty to settle claims that the retailer “routinely and systematically” made false and misleading claims about the prices of its products on its website. If upheld, this ruling could have significant effects on how companies use price comparisons in advertisements in the future. A group of California District Attorneys sued…
Data Privacy Day
January 28, 2014
Data Privacy Day
By: Michelle Cohen
By Michelle Cohen, CIPP-US On January 28th, in an effort raise awareness of privacy and data privacy, the United States, Canada and 27 countries of the European Union celebrate International Data Privacy Day. Many organizations use Data Privacy Day as an opportunity to educate their employees and stakeholders about privacy-related topics. With the recent, high-profile data breaches as Target, Neiman Marcus, and potentially, Michaels, the need…
FTC Clamps Down on EU Safe Harbor Compliance: If Your Company Says It Is Certified, Keep Your Certification Current
January 22, 2014
FTC Clamps Down on EU Safe Harbor Compliance: If Your Company Says It Is Certified, Keep Your Certification Current
By: Michelle Cohen
Once again using its administrative litigation process, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced settlements with twelve large businesses, including the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos football teams, the Baker Tilly accounting firm, BitTorrent, Inc., a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, Level 3 Communications (one of the largest Internet service providers in the world), and Reynolds Consumer Products, all relating to alleged deceptive claims of U.S.-E.U Safe harbor…
Investigating For-Profit Edu: Are Government Agents Going To Start Tripping Over Each Other?
January 21, 2014
Investigating For-Profit Edu: Are Government Agents Going To Start Tripping Over Each Other?
By: Nicole Kardell
Things look a bit bleak for the for-profit education industry: it seems like every other day a new federal or state agency is launching an investigation or proposing new regulations. The latest news is that a coalition of 32 state attorneys general, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is expanding a probe into lending practices at for-profit colleges. This news follows pronouncements by the…
Industry, Members of Congress Take Action on FTC Process
January 9, 2014
Industry, Members of Congress Take Action on FTC Process
By: Michelle Cohen
As the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) continues to flex its consumer protection muscles by bringing numerous administrative lawsuits, industry and members of Congress are questioning whether there is a level playing field that allows companies to properly defend themselves against FTC charges. Or, as some say, does the FTC have the “home court advantage” in its role as investigator and prosecutor, armed with very broad…
