#Secrettweets: Protecting Social Media As A Trade Secret?

Social media today connects people more than ever. It can be a means to bring together long-lost friends, new acquaintances, and love interests, or the public with celebrities, sports teams, new products, and companies—to name just a few. It can be an effective way to market images and products, as it has the potential to reach thousands instantly with the click of a button. With such public uses and goals, social media seems like an odd candidate for trade secret protection. Yet, that is precisely what BH Media Inc. is seeking to protect in its complaint, filed with the Western District of Virginia on August 6, 2018 against a former employee, Andy Bitter.

According to BH Media, Bitter acquired a Twitter account from BH Media during the course of his employment as a staff writer focusing on Virginia Tech athletics and providing content for BH Media's Roanoke Times. While employed with BH Media, Bitter used the account to promote the Roanoke Times, gaining 27,100 followers. When Bitter left BH Media for a competitor on July 6, 2018, he declined to provide BH Media with access to the Twitter account. Instead, he changed the Twitter handle to @AndyBitterVT and continues to use the account to tweet information to his followers.

In its complaint, BH Media alleged that the Twitter account is a protected trade secret: claiming that the account itself, as well as the account manager's private access to a unique group of followers, a unique Twitter Feed, and direct messages from followers is all information that is not publicly available or readily ascertainable from outside sources.

Just last week, on August 30, 2018, Bitter responded to the complaint, filing an answer, affirmative defenses, and a counterclaim for defamation. In his answer, Bitter denies...