Threads Poses Legal Challenges for Brands and Corporate Counsel

Andrew Lustigman, Chair of Olshan's Advertising, Marketing & Promotion's Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Brand Management & Protection Group, published an article in Bloomberg Law (subscription required) on how the launch of the new social media app Threads may feature some of the same pitfalls for brands, though it means to offer a “less toxic” alternative to Twitter. Accordingly, it is incumbent upon brands to remain hyper-cognizant of the spaces in which they advertise, including on this new platform from Facebook parent company Meta. “By combining the interactivity of Twitter with an algorithm that moderates unfavorable speech,” Andy writes, “Threads has the potential to succeed as a platform for brands to promote themselves and offer a wide array of activations.” He cautions, however, that brands must “keep in mind that moderation protections [on Threads] may be limited.” Because Meta wants to make Threads accessible to open social media platforms, the platform may therefore not be subject to the same level of content moderation as Meta itself, and this could result in brand content perhaps being shown in an “unintended environment,” Andy explains. “Before launching a campaign on Threads, brands need to consider its parameters,” he writes. “Advertisers also need to consider whether any claims that are being made in their own content require clarifying disclaimers. If so, they must be worked into the post within the character limitation yet be sufficiently prominent and descriptive to provide the appropriate context of a claim.”