What is a Social Media Lawyer?

Sometimes the legal profession can change as rapidly as the clients they service.

So is the case with a burgeoning area of law - social media and content creation - and the unique issues this industry faces.

What is a social media attorney?

To be clear, a social media lawyer is simply a lawyer who practices law in the niche of social media or content creation. But if you break this down things get a bit more complicated. First of all, not all content creators are the same. Some are massive conglomerates with multiple corporate entities and sophisticated transactions while others are individuals using social media as a side hustle.

Still, the types of law creators need usually fall into one of the following buckets.

Contract Law

When content creators partner with a brand to advertise to their audience, they sign onto a brand deal agreement that lays out the intellectual property terms, payment options, and licensing arrangements between the creator and the brand. These agreements range from two to twenty pages in length and can incredibly (and some would unnecessarily) complex.

A social media lawyer can help you review these agreements to make sure that they (i) are reflecting the business deal that you agreed to and (ii) negotiate better and more protective terms for your intellectual property and other rights. Many creators do not think that they need a lawyer to review these agreements since they don’t see immediate harm arising from the agreements. The reality, however, is that these agreements have a host of legal implications for creators. What happens if a brand uses your likeness for an advertisement that you didn’t approve of? How long can your content be whitelisted by the company? If someone sues the brand after watching your advertisement, can they recover all legal fees - into the millions - from you? When is payment due and what happens if the brand is late?

These are few of the many questions that are answered in brand deal agreements.

General Corporate

Many content creators are doing business through corporate entities, such as LLCs or C Corporations. These entities require legal work to get them started and maintain them, including filing the Articles of Incorporation with the State and passing board resolutions for actions that the entity takes, like opening up lines of credit or hiring employees.

A social media lawyer can help the creator set up their entity and maintain it throughout its life cycle.

Demand Litigation Requests

When brands or other creators steal creators’ content and use it without permission they are violating copyright law, and sometimes commit trademark infringement. The standard approach most creators take with these thieves is messaging them requesting them to take down the content. Most of the time these requests are ignored or stonewalled.

That’s when an attorney can step in and send a formal demand request letter to the infringing creator. The letter typically contains statements of fact, a short description of the laws violated, a demand for settlement and threat of litigation should the party not respond. If the demand letter is unsuccessful then formal litigation may be required. Of course, a social media attorney will handle this as well.

These are a handful of areas of law that a social media attorney practices. Depending on client needs social media lawyers may also work on defamation defense, trademark filing, and general business advising.

If you or someone you know is in need of a lawyer specializing in social media or corporate related work, shoot us an email at team@forcreatorsbycreators.co or use our handy web form. We can help.