AdTech & Digital Media Newsletter

Welcome to the October 2022 newsletter prepared by Arnold & Porter’s AdTech and Digital Media group. This newsletter includes legal and regulatory developments relevant to the AdTech and Digital Media industries, the state of venture investment activity in the AdTech industry, and updates regarding Arnold & Porter’s activity in the space.

In this issue:

Supreme Court

• Texas Law HB 20—5th Circuit blocks Texas social media law as parties turn to SCOTUS
• Gonzalez v. Google, LLC—Whether immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act extends to recommendations by algorithms
• Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh—Potential aiding and abetting liability of social media platform under US Anti-Terrorism Act

FTC Developments

• FTC Exploring Rulemaking Targeting Fake Online Reviews
• FTC hosted event on “Protecting Kids From Stealth Advertising in Digital Media”

Case law development

• Does 1-6 v. Reddit—CDA Section 230 Immunity
• Washington State Attorney General seeks $25M penalty from Meta over election ads

Healthcare

On September 28, 2022, the international and European self-regulatory bodies for the research-based pharmaceutical industry (IFPMA, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations and EFPIA, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) published a Note for Guidance to assist member companies with their use of social media and digital channels.

Other Developments

• The White House’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
• Clearview AI (a facial recognition company), facing $20 million fine and ordered to delete biometric data
• State court deals blow to apps using clickwrap—recent state court’s decisions and legal tactics raise new concerns about the inclusion of arbitration terms

Markets

Based on data provided by PitchBook, both the median deal value and the deal count for venture investments in AdTech & MarTech in the US are trending down. The same is also happening for the US, Europe and Asia combined.

Arnold & Porter Updates

• See our alert on the FTC’s recent lawsuit against Kochava Inc.
• See our Advisory on the Whitehouse’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

Please see Arnold & Porter’s AdTech and Digital Media webpage for additional publications summarizing developments in adtech and digital media.

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2022 All Rights Reserved. This Advisory is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.