Instagram recently rolled out a new feature to a select group of its users who use the social media platform for promotional purposes. This tool allows influential users to add a new subheading to posts that reads “Paid partnership with…” It is designed to help users clearly and conspicuously tag the brand that sponsors a post. The announcement comes just two months after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) focused its attention, for the first time, on influential Instagram users and raised concerns about whether certain users were violating FTC Endorsement
Meghan Rissmiller
Moving Beyond #Ad: Instagram Unveils New Tool for Disclosing Endorsements
FTC Issues Sharing Economy Report
In June 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a workshop on The “Sharing” Economy: Issues Facing Platforms, Participants, and Regulators. The Commission also solicited public comments on the topic, receiving more than 2,000 comments in response. On 17 November, the Commission issued a report summarizing the issues explored in the workshop and the public comments. The report emphasized that the workshop (and its ensuing summary) was not intended “as a precursor to law enforcement” but “an opportunity to learn more” about this rapidly evolving business model and to aid
TMT 2020: Salvation Through Innovation: Not So Fast
EDITOR’S NOTE: We are excited to present this entry in our new TMT2020 series, which reflects the key technology, media, and telecoms legal issues that are expected to impact today’s organizations and tomorrow’s marketplace. It also provides an opportunity to highlight contributions by TMT associates across our global offices and practice areas. Looking to get your deal cleared in the U.S.? Point to a disruptive technology or innovative new entrant as evidence that current market shares are not indicative of the combined company’s future significance. Easy clearance in less than
US antitrust lessons from the proposed Comcast/TWC merger
Comcast’s failed acquisition of Time Warner Cable (“TWC”) presents a lesson in the types of antitrust harms that merger enforcers in the United States are willing to pursue. Using traditional “horizontal” merger analysis, the combination would have resulted in almost no reduction of head-to-head competition, as there were very few geographic areas in which the two companies were head-to-head rivals. Nevertheless, the enforcers, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) and the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), which have concurrent jurisdiction to review communications mergers, took a broader view of how