Online Social Media Legal Risks For Associations

Incorporating the use of social media and online networking sites into an association's larger communication, membership, or marketing strategies raises a number of potential legal risks and liability issues for the association. The following is a non-exhaustive list of legal issues to consider in connection with using social networking sites to create, manage, and/or sponsor content. 1. It's more public than you think. An association should always be careful about what it posts and assume that greater (not less) publication or disclosure is possible. 2. Avoid use of material obtained without permission and provide proper attribution for content taken from other sources. Given the ease with which content and material can be obtained or posted online, even within social networking sites, avoiding copyright infringement will always remain a concern for associations. 3. Be careful with allowing others to post content. When managing an online social network that enables the posting of content by a third party (e.g., a member), such content functionality can give rise to liability for copyright infringement, torts, or defamation. Avoid encouragement of unauthorized use or copying of third-party content, and where possible, seek the consent of the author, owner, or subject before reproduction or use. 4. Know your identity and role. Monitor your interactions with other users and be sure you can verify your association's own posted material from messages or material from other sources. 5. Pattern behavior to take advantage of potential immunity. The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 lays out certain safe harbors for "Internet service providers" that could provide protection from copyright infringement claims, and the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 offers safe harbor protection for providers or users of interactive computer services from civil liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, and trespass claims. 6. Consider hyperlinks to third-party sites. Although mere linking may not suffice to find copyright or trademark liability, an association should never frame, deep link to, or incorporate any third-party content without permission when it links to other sites or pages. 7. Don't misuse trademarks. Third-party trademarks should be used by an association in its online social media with permission when possible and with extra caution when use is in a commercial context. 8. Be...