2024 was another big rulemaking year for the FTC. At the end of October, the FTC issued its final Negative Option Rule, which has created quite a stir in the marketing community. Faced with a flurry of court challenges and a different political landscape following the 2024 elections, it is possible that the Negative Option Rule will have a short life span. Despite its uncertain future, the requirements and principles set forth in the Rule align with many of the state automatic renewal laws and may continue to inform how states regulate automatic renewal programs and enforce their laws.

In this episode of Perfect Balance: An Advertising Law Podcast, host Po Yi is joined by Manatt Consumer Protection partners J.J. Rodriguez and Bez Stern to examine and discuss the key provisions of the Negative Option Rule and their implications, and how the same issues are being addressed by states, including the recent amendments to California’s Automatic Renewal Law.

We are just days away from one of the most consequential and historic elections in U.S. history. Political advertising spending is at an all-time high in this election cycle, with both parties vying for the attention and votes of undecided voters in our highly polarized society, especially in a handful of swing states. While political advertising is protected speech at the highest level under the First Amendment, there are still federal and state laws that apply to political ads.

In this episode of Perfect Balance: An Advertising Law Podcast, host Po Yi explores some of these laws with Manatt Digital and Technology Partner and Leader Eric Bergner and Government and Regulatory Associate Antoinette Bedros, particularly variations in these laws and compliance challenges for digital publishers when accepting political ads on their platforms.

Social media has continued to be a major topic in our society in 2024. The Supreme Court issued three decisions involving social media, TikTok faces an uncertain future as its Chinese parent fights a U.S. congressional mandate to sell the company to avoid a ban in the U.S., the concern over misinformation and disinformation has grown as we are less than three months away from a presidential election, there has been an increasing focus on the potential connection between social media usage and mental health, and the Federal Trade Commission continues to closely monitor social media activities. Despite the political and regulatory concerns, there does not appear to be any drop in the popularity of social media, in any age group.

In this episode of Perfect Balance: An Advertising Law Podcast, host Po Yi is joined by Manatt associates Monica Kulkarni, Tia Thevenin and summer associate Janice Kim, to discuss the latest trends on social media and some of the popular features in use today.