Business Blogging In the Fog of Law: Traditional Agency Liability Principles and Less-Than-Traditional Section 230 Immunity in the Context of Blogs About Businesses

Abstract

Businesses of every size and type are involved in blogging – a novel and changing form of corporate communication that resides in an unsettled legal world. These blogs come in different varieties. Some are written by CEOs or other C-suite executives. Some are written by employees with a particular expertise. Some are directly supported, even hosted on the web, by the corporation. Some claim to be independent of any corporate influence, control or editing. Some are simply silent on those questions. Practitioners of businesses and public relations cannot safely treat any of these corporate blogs as fully-protected First Amendment speech. This study examines the legal issues stemming from various kinds of corporate blogs, analyzes the impact of legal issues on corporate and public relations blogging, and suggests a methodology for classifying various blogs and evaluating the risks presented by each.