ABSTRACT
Complex legal issues are the work of lawyers, but social media managers need enough basic knowledge to identify and assess legal risks to prevent exposure, minimise damage and decide whether legal advice is needed. This chapter introduces both general and specific social media legal risk assessment procedures for professional communicators. It offers strategies for becoming familiar with some of the key laws of social media and using them to reduce exposure to legal risks. It establishes the boundaries of social media law and explores the legal implications of a globalised and interconnected world where cultures, systems and jurisdictions can have unexpected consequences. Using selected international cases, it shows how a legal risk management approach might have avoided costly litigation and unnecessary brand damage.
