On 9 November 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that an EU Member State may not subject an information society service provider (ISSP) established in another EU Member State to general and abstract regulatory measures that deviate from measures of the Member State in which the ISSP is established (C‑376/22). In doing so, it declared the Austrian Communication Platforms Act and, by implication, many other national online platform regulations, inapplicable…
The Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes wide-ranging and transformative obligations on online intermediaries and platforms. As has been well-publicised over the last few months, the most onerous obligations, and tighter deadlines for compliance, fall on services designated by the Commission as very large online platforms (VLOPs) or very large online search engines (VLOSEs). However, all online platforms and online search engines were required to publish information on their user figures earlier this year, and all…
Social media has become an increasingly vital part of firms’ marketing strategies across industries, and the financial sector – including its growing number of financial influencers or “finfluencers” – is no exception. In light of this trend the UK financial services regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has published a consultation to update its guidance on social media financial promotions. With this new guidance, the FCA wants to ensure its expectations of financial promotions on…
NFTs (Non-fungible Tokens) continue to grow in popularity, but the inherent misalignments in speed between legislation and innovation present a major challenge. NFT project developers, companies interested in using NFTs as an entry point into the web3 world and other stakeholders face legal challenges regarding regulatory matters, aligning these projects with more traditional legal requirements (such as eCommerce related consumer laws) and potential IP (Intellectual Property) breaches. Although there are few legal precedents for NFTs,…
Vietnam is releasing a brand-new draft decree superseding Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP (as amended) (“Decree 72”) on the management, provisions, and use of Internet services and online information (“Draft Decree”).
The Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just issued Official Letter No. 923/QD-BVHTTDL for the inception of a working group regulating film dissemination in cyberspace given the rampant dissemination of toxic videos and illegal films on digital platforms.
In brief If you sell goods and services to consumers through automatically renewing payment plans, free or discounted trials that convert into full plans, or other “negative option features” that interpret a consumer’s silence as permission to keep charging them (collectively, “recurring subscriptions”), you should monitor and consider submitting comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC’s”) proposed Negative Option Rule. The proposed rule would impose detailed transparency, consent, simple cancellation and annual reminder requirements on companies…
February 2023 saw a landmark decision for brand owners and digital assets, as a first instance court decided the first US case to consider the application of trademark rights to digital artworks linked to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). The decision (detailed in our alert here) centered around “MetaBirkins”: a collection of unique virtual tokens linked to digital faux-fur versions of the coveted Hermès Birkin bag. Hermès sued Rothschild for trademark infringement, dilution and cybersquatting, and the…
In recent years, CDA 230 has come under scrutiny for its alleged impact on freedoms of speech, online safety, and misinformation. We describe recent examples of lawmakers and authorities seeking to impose more onerous content moderation restrictions or obligations on digital platforms.
Today marks one month until the 17 February deadline for publishing EU user numbers (or Monthly Active Recipients (“MARs”)) under the Digital Services Act (“DSA”). This applies to online platforms of all sizes that host and disseminate user content, not just “VLOPs”, and the disclosure must be made on a public-facing part of the platform’s interface/website (following art 24(2) DSA). Calculating MARs can be a tricky and lengthy process, complicated by a distinct lack of…