CAN-SPAM Act applies to social media, too

(March 30, 2012) -- Recently, Facebook successfully sued a marketer for violations of the CAN-SPAM act.  The court noted that the statutory definition of "electronic mail messages" is broad enough to include alternative forms of messages, not just those directed to a traditional email with a local part and a domain part.  The court found that messages directed to Facebook users' "walls," "newsfeeds," and the home pages of the users' friends required some routing activity by Facebook.