Social Media

Facebook owner Meta is set to be told it cannot force users of its services to agree to personalised ads in what privacy campaigners have said will be a "huge blow to Meta's profits in the EU". The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) yesterday said it had adopted three binding decisions addressing

New EU rules regulating large online platforms classified as "digital gatekeepers" have come into force and will be implemented within months. The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) was proposed by the European Commission in December 2020 and agreed by the European Parliament in record time in March 2022.

Irish and US law firms are in talks about bringing a major lawsuit against social media platforms over their alleged failure to protect the privacy and data of billions of people. Media lawyer Paul Tweed confirmed to Irish Legal News that he is in talks with a number of large US-based firms about br

A draft decision in a large-scale investigation of a Facebook data breach has been submitted by Ireland's data protection watchdog to other EU authorities. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) commenced the inquiry into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL), which operates Facebook, in April 2021 af

Social media companies must be held legally responsible for what users post on their platforms in order to protect individuals from defamation, harassment and abuse, the Law Society of Northern Ireland's centenary conference heard. Friday's conference closed with a panel discussion chaired by well-k

Clare Daly, child law solicitor with Comyn Kelleher Tobin (CKT), discusses Ireland’s evolving online safety legislation and the decision from the expert review group that an independent complaints mechanism within the new regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, is "feasible". An inquest ha

A town in the Netherlands has launched legal proceedings against Twitter after false claims of a local paedophile network were circulated online. Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, a municipality in the west of the country with a population of around 34,000, has been at the centre of absurd conspiracy theories al

A draft decision in a large-scale investigation of TikTok's processing of children's data has been submitted by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) to other EU authorities. The investigation is one of two own-volition inquiries into TikTok launched by the DPC in September 2021.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a record €405 million fine on Instagram after a two-year investigation into its processing of children's data, according to reports. The regulator adopted its final decision last Friday and will publish further details about it next week, a

Laws that are premised on the traditional notions of obscenity and indecency will not help to keep children safe online, an academic has warned. Existing laws that are reliant on a standard of ‘morality’ and obscenity have proven to be ineffective for regulating adult pornography on the

EU plans to hold major online platforms like Facebook and Twitter accountable for illegal and harmful content are gathering pace after political agreement was reached between the European Parliament and member states over the weekend. The Digital Services Act (DSA), proposed by the European Commissi

Belfast-based KRW LAW LLP has been instructed by British politician George Galloway to issue legal proceedings against Twitter if it does not withdraw a designation of his account as linked to the Russian state. The law firm alleges that Twitter has breached Mr Galloway's personal data rights, defam

The European Union has reached political agreement on landmark new legislation aimed at addressing "systemic misbehaviour" among so-called Big Tech companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) will blacklist certain practices used by large platforms acting as &

Mark Zuckerberg may be forced to pay UK Facebook users about £50 each if a legal case succeeds. Competition law academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen is to lodge a case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, on behalf of 44 million users between 2015 and 2019, The Times reports.

Rohingya refugees in the UK and US are suing social media giant Facebook for $150 billion over allegations that the platform helped to promote violence against the minority group in Myanmar. Facebook previously apologised in 2018 for not "doing enough to help prevent our platform from being used to