Examples of social media violations include using a copyrighted song in a Reel, reposting a photographer’s work with a credit tag, promoting a product without disclosing you were paid, sharing an employer’s confidential information, posting a false factual claim about someone, hyping a stock without revealing your stake, running a giveaway that requires a purchase, and distributing intimate images of another person without consent. Some of these get your post removed. Others end in a civil judgment or a federal prison sentence.
Copyright and Trademark Posts That Get You Sued
Copyright infringement is the most common social media violation, and most people who commit it think they’re fine. Federal law protects original creative work the moment it’s fixed in a tangible form, including photos, songs, videos, and written posts.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 102 – Subject Matter of Copyright: In General Dropping a copyrighted track behind a TikTok or Instagram Reel without a license is infringement. Platforms use automated detection to flag those files, and once flagged, the copyright holder can send a takedown notice under the DMCA.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 512 – Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online
Reposting professional photography is the other frequent trap. Crediting the photographer is not a license. Fair use exists, but it requires a transformative use such as commentary, criticism, or parody, and a straight repost with a credit tag fails the analysis. When a copyright owner pursues statutory damages instead of proving actual losses, a court can award between $750 and $30,000 per work infringed, and the ceiling climbs to $150,000 per work if the infringement was willful.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
Trademark infringement works differently and shows up just as often. Putting a company’s logo, brand name, or trade dress on your content in a way that implies an endorsement or partnership you don’t have can trigger a Lanham Act lawsuit. The legal question is whether your use is likely to confuse consumers about who is behind the product.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1125 – False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden Placing a luxury brand’s logo on your merchandise photos to imply a collaboration is a standard example.
Sponsored Posts Without a Clear Disclosure
If you receive anything of value in exchange for promoting a product on social media, you have to say so. The FTC’s endorsement rules require a clear and conspicuous disclosure of any connection between you and the company that your audience wouldn’t already expect.5eCFR. 16 CFR Part 255 – Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising The connection doesn’t have to be cash. Free products, affiliate commissions, family ties to the brand owner, early access, and even the chance of winning a prize all count as material connections that need disclosure.6Federal Trade Commission. FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking
Where you place the disclosure matters. FTC guidance requires that disclosures in interactive media be unavoidable, meaning a viewer shouldn’t be able to miss them. Burying #ad at the bottom of a long caption, hiding it inside a wall of hashtags, or mentioning a sponsorship only at the end of a video all fall short. On video, the disclosure should appear in the first few seconds. On live streams, repeat it periodically for viewers who join late.
The FTC can pursue civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.7Federal Register. Adjustments to Civil Penalty Amounts That’s per post, per story, per video. The agency has brought cases against Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, and Paul Pierce for promoting digital assets without disclosing they were paid. The same rules apply to micro-influencers and everyday users running affiliate links.
Posts That Get You Fired or Sued by Your Employer
Most employment in the United States is at-will, meaning your employer can fire you for nearly any reason that isn’t illegal discrimination or retaliation.8USAGov. Termination Guidance for Employers Social media posts are a frequent trigger. Violating an NDA by sharing internal company information, client data, or trade secrets is grounds for immediate termination and often a breach-of-contract lawsuit that can recover the company’s actual losses, legal fees, and any severance you were owed.
Publicly criticizing your employer is more nuanced. The National Labor Relations Act protects concerted activity, which means you and your coworkers acting together on wages, hours, or working conditions. Posting about unsafe conditions or organizing with colleagues about pay is protected. A solo rant trashing your boss, with no connection to collective action, is not. You can also lose the protection by saying something knowingly false or egregiously offensive.9National Labor Relations Board. Concerted Activity Many private employers also have social media policies that go further, and violating one is usually all the justification they need.
If an employer or prospective employer demands your personal social media login, federal law gives you some cover. The Stored Communications Act makes it a crime to intentionally access stored electronic communications without authorization, which can reach an employer who logs into your private accounts without proper consent.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 2701 – Unlawful Access to Stored Communications More than half of the states have also passed laws that specifically prohibit employers from requesting employee or applicant social media passwords.
Breaking a Platform’s Own Rules
When you sign up for any major platform, you agree to a Terms of Service that functions as a contract. Those rules cover hate speech, harassment, spam, coordinated manipulation, and graphic content. Violating them won’t send you to jail, but platforms can remove your content, restrict your reach, suspend your account, or ban you permanently.
There is no viable First Amendment claim against a platform for those decisions. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act says that no provider of an interactive computer service can be held liable for voluntarily restricting access to material it considers objectionable, as long as it acts in good faith.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 U.S.C. 230 – Protection for Private Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material The First Amendment restricts government censorship, not the editorial choices of private companies.
Defamation
Posting a false statement of fact about someone that damages their reputation is defamation. In writing, it’s called libel. A plaintiff has to prove the statement was false, was communicated to others, involved at least negligence on your part, and caused actual harm. Opinions are generally protected, but dressing up a false factual claim as an opinion (“I think she probably embezzles from her clients”) doesn’t automatically shield you. A defamation judgment can include compensatory damages for the harm caused and punitive damages for reckless conduct.
Roughly 39 states have anti-SLAPP laws, which let a defendant get a retaliatory or frivolous defamation suit dismissed early. If someone sues you primarily to silence protected speech rather than to redress genuine harm, an anti-SLAPP motion can end the case before legal fees pile up. There is no federal anti-SLAPP statute, so availability depends on the state where you’re sued.
Incitement, Securities Fraud, and Non-Consensual Images
The First Amendment does not protect speech directed at producing imminent lawless action and likely to produce it.12United States Courts. What Does Free Speech Mean? Using social media to organize or encourage immediate violence or property destruction is a criminal offense. Abstract advocacy of illegal conduct is still protected; a direct call to specific, imminent action is not.13Justia U.S. Supreme Court. Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
Promoting an investment while hiding the fact that you’re paid to promote it isn’t only an FTC disclosure problem. SEC Rule 10b-5 makes it illegal to use any deceptive practice in connection with buying or selling securities, and that reaches hyping a stock or crypto token to your followers without revealing your financial stake.14eCFR. 17 CFR 240.10b-5 – Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Devices Related wire fraud charges under federal law carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1343 – Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television
Sharing intimate images of someone without their consent became a federal crime in 2025 under the TAKE IT DOWN Act. The statute covers both authentic images and AI-generated deepfakes. Distributing non-consensual intimate images of an adult carries up to two years in federal prison; when the victim is a minor, the maximum is three years.16Congress.gov. S.146 – TAKE IT DOWN Act – Text Even threatening to publish such images is a separate offense under the same law. Platforms must remove reported material within 48 hours of notification.17Congress.gov. S.146 – TAKE IT DOWN Act
Collecting Information From Children
If you run a social media channel clearly aimed at children under 13 and collect information from them through sign-ups, contests, or interactive features, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act applies to you, not just to the platform. COPPA requires operators of services directed at children to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or sharing a child’s personal data. It also prohibits conditioning a child’s participation in a game or activity on handing over more personal information than the activity actually needs.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 6502 – Regulation of Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices in Connection With Collection and Use of Personal Information From and About Children on the Internet The FTC enforces these rules under its per-violation civil penalty structure.19Federal Trade Commission. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule Claiming you didn’t know your audience was under 13 is a weak defense when your content, design, and marketing are plainly child-oriented.
Giveaways That Are Technically Illegal Lotteries
A promotion that combines three elements is classified as an illegal lottery under state and federal law: a prize, a random selection process, and something of value the entrant must give up to participate. Only the government can run lotteries. If your Instagram giveaway requires people to purchase a product to enter and you’re drawing winners at random, you’ve built one by accident. The fix is to always offer a free method of entry so no purchase is required. Legitimate sweepstakes drop the purchase element; legitimate contests replace randomness with skill-based judging.
Disclosure rules also apply. If a brand is sponsoring your giveaway, that relationship needs to be disclosed under the same FTC endorsement rules that cover paid promotions. Many states additionally require official rules, a “no purchase necessary” statement, and registration or bonding for prizes above certain dollar thresholds. Skipping these steps can bring state attorney general enforcement, not just a platform takedown.