Operating online means navigating a complex regulatory environment. Federal and state laws now govern how you collect data, send emails, display advertisements, and handle copyrighted content.
Understanding these regulations helps you avoid legal liability and protect your online presence. Here are the seven internet laws that affect most online businesses and users.
1. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Endorsement Guides
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates advertising practices in the United States, including endorsements and testimonials. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides establish how businesses must disclose material connections between endorsers and brands.
Under these guides, you must clearly disclose when endorsers receive compensation, free products, or other benefits. This applies to social media influencers, bloggers, affiliate marketers, and any paid spokespersons.
The FTC updated these guides most recently in 2023 to address evolving social media practices. Courts often reference these guides when determining whether an endorsement is deceptive, even though the guides themselves are not the law.
Common violations include failing to disclose affiliate relationships, burying disclosures in lengthy posts, or using unclear hashtags like #partner instead of #ad. The FTC can pursue enforcement actions against both the endorser and the brand.
2. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
COPPA is a federal law that regulates how websites and online services collect, use, and disclose personal information from children under 13 years old.
If your site or service targets children or knowingly collects their data, you must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting any personal information. You must also provide parents with the ability to review and delete their child’s data.
COPPA applies if your site is “directed to children” based on factors including:
- Subject matter and content designed for children
- Visual design using bright colors, cartoon characters, or child-oriented themes
- Use of child celebrities or characters popular with children
- Language and tone appropriate for children
- Age-gating or marketing that targets children
The law also applies if you have actual knowledge that you’re collecting information from children, regardless of your intended audience. Violations can result in significant civil penalties per violation.
3. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, addresses copyright protection in digital formats. The law includes several provisions, but its safe harbor protections are most relevant to website operators.
Safe harbor protections shield online service providers from liability when users post infringing content, provided you meet specific requirements. You must designate a DMCA agent, implement a repeat infringer policy, and respond promptly to takedown notices.
When you receive a valid DMCA takedown notice, you must remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing content. Users can then file a counter-notice if they believe the content was removed in error.
The DMCA also prohibits circumventing technological measures that protect copyrighted works, such as encryption or digital rights management systems.
4. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Net Neutrality Rules
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates communications networks in the United States. Net neutrality rules, when in effect, prevent internet service providers from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing certain online content.
The regulatory status of net neutrality has changed multiple times. The FCC enacted Open Internet rules in 2015, repealed them in 2017, and has faced ongoing legal and legislative efforts to reinstate protections.
Individual states have also passed their own net neutrality laws. The current regulatory landscape remains subject to legal challenges and policy changes at both the federal and state levels.
For most website operators and users, net neutrality primarily affects how internet service providers can manage network traffic and whether they can charge different rates for different types of content.
5. CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act establishes requirements for commercial email and gives recipients the right to stop receiving messages. The law applies to all commercial messages, including promotional emails and transactional messages with commercial content.
You must comply with these requirements:
- Include your valid physical postal address in every email
- Identify the message as an advertisement when appropriate
- Provide a clear, functioning opt-out mechanism in every message
- Honor opt-out requests within 10 business days
- Accurately identify yourself as the sender
- Use truthful subject lines that reflect the email’s content
The FTC enforces the CAN-SPAM Act and can impose significant penalties for violations. Each separate email that violates the law is subject to penalties, making non-compliance costly for businesses sending large email campaigns.
Third-party email service providers must also comply if they send commercial emails on behalf of clients. You cannot outsource your compliance obligations.
6. Terms of Service
Terms of Service (also called Terms of Use) create a binding contract between your website or service and its users. These agreements establish the rules users must follow and typically include liability limitations and legal disclaimers.
Well-drafted terms of service help protect you from liability by:
- Defining acceptable and prohibited uses of your platform
- Limiting your liability for service disruptions or user-generated content
- Establishing dispute resolution procedures
- Specifying which jurisdiction’s laws apply to disputes
For users, the terms of service clarify their rights and obligations when using a platform. Most services require users to accept these terms before accessing the full service.
Terms of service are only enforceable if users have reasonable notice of them and an opportunity to review them before agreeing. Simply posting terms on your website may not be sufficient—you often need explicit user acceptance.
7. Copyright Law
Copyright law protects original creative works, including text, images, videos, music, and software code. Copyright automatically applies when you create an original work and fix it in a tangible medium.
Copyright owners have exclusive rights to:
- Reproduce their work
- Create derivative works based on the original
- Distribute copies to the public
- Display or perform the work publicly
When you use someone else’s copyrighted material online, you generally need permission unless your use qualifies as fair use. Fair use is a legal doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like commentary, criticism, news reporting, or education. However, fair use determinations are highly fact-specific.
If you operate a website, you’re responsible for ensuring you have the right to use all content you post. This includes images, videos, music, and text from other sources. Purchasing or licensing content from stock photo sites, obtaining written permission, or creating original content helps you avoid infringement claims.
Understanding these internet laws helps you operate online responsibly and reduces your legal risk. Regulations continue to change as technology advances, so staying informed about updates to these laws remains important for anyone conducting business or creating content online.
