Every post, comment, and DM you send exists in a legal universe. Learn the real rules governing social media — from defamation and cyberbullying to privacy, copyright, and the contracts you agree to without reading.
Social media is where most teens spend a significant part of their day, but very few understand the legal rules that govern every post, comment, share, and DM. This camp changes that.
You’ll start with defamation — the law that applies when someone makes a false statement of fact that damages another person’s reputation. You’ll learn the difference between libel (written defamation, which includes social media posts) and slander (spoken defamation, which can include livestreams and voice messages). Crucially, you’ll learn to tell the difference between a statement of fact (potentially defamatory) and a statement of opinion (generally protected).
Next, you’ll study cyberbullying and criminal harassment. There’s a legal line between being mean online and committing a crime. You’ll examine state statutes that criminalize repeated, targeted online harassment and work through scenarios to find that line.
You’ll also learn that every time you click “I agree” on a platform’s Terms of Service, you may be entering into a legally binding contract. You’ll study clickwrap and browsewrap agreements, learn when they’re enforceable, and discover what rights you might be signing away — including rights to your own content.
The Fourth Amendment comes into play when police want to search your social media. You’ll learn about warrant requirements, the third-party doctrine, and why your DMs might have more legal protection than your public posts.
Finally, Copyright is everywhere on social media. You’ll explore who owns the meme you created, when sharing someone else’s content crosses into infringement, what fair use actually means, and what rights you hand over to platforms just by posting.
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