20 Sep Keep Your Content Marketing Out of Court
One of the additional things to think about with being a blogger today is that you need to know if what you are doing is 100% legal and safe. The FTC has created many, different laws that bloggers need to follow and be aware of. Blogging law from the FTC are not the only laws that a blogger can get in trouble with. To keep it simple, there are really only five mistakes that typically lead to being sued.
- Product Disparagement
Product Disparagement as a blogging law covers a wide range of items. Basically, product disparagement is a statement that is false that affects the company and product’s market. This blogging law affects mostly bloggers who write reviews.
To avoid breaking this blogging law, simply do not include information that you are not 100% sure about. Think about whether you have the evidence to back up what you are saying as fact, and don’t take others’ opinions at face value when formulating your review.
- Personality Right or Right of Publicity
These are two laws that are very similar. These laws mean that every individual is able to control the commercial/public use of their name, image, and likeness. This protects individuals from having their names used on social media platforms. This is becoming a more common reason for lawsuits, so make sure that you have prior permission before posting photos of other people on your blog or using their names and information.
- Tortious Interference
This is the most common reason why bloggers are sued. Tortious interference means that you provoke someone to break a contract that is in place. The reason that these lawsuits are common is that encouraging someone to not buy a product or use a service can count as interference online. To avoid being sued, make sure that you note that you are giving your opinion in the article, and also whether or not you are being paid or receiving any benefits from a particular company for your article writing.
- Defamation
Defamation is basically the hardest blogging law to avoid since it is how the reader takes the information. This means you have to be careful about what you say online about people and businesses.
Think about what a normal person would read between the lines on your article and make changes to keep their thoughts on track with your intent. Be open, as well, with what you don’t know about a company, product, or service.
- Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement is the most widely known blogging law. Basically, it protects the owner of copyrighted materials from having them used without their permission.
For a blogger, this is simple to avoid, by creating your own content. If you are going to use someone else’s content, ask them beforehand, and if they want to be paid for the work, then pay them. A lawsuit about copyright can cost you over 3 times what the original price was. Also, if you try to use the content for content marketing, Google is able to note that the image or the text is from another blog, which lowers your SEO score.
Conclusion
If you are worried about being sued or if you need more information about a blogging law, you should contact an attorney. If you are careful in what you say in your articles, and really think about what a ‘normal person’ would infer from your content, you should be in the clear.
Also, you can rely on your web developer for good advice. We’ve been doing this for a long time and can often steer you out many pitfalls.