Social Media Changes Law

Instead of taking this the way that most people probably are writing this blog on the legal issues within social media (like how messenger can legally access your microphone at anytime and all times), I am going to talk about how social media changes aspects of the legal system. To get this point across I am mainly going to talk about #freeKesha. I think that this case is a perfect example of it, but realize that all the things that I talk about are not unique to just this case. So here is a list of things that are notable in how social media affected the case for Kesha beyond just popularizing the hashtag. Here is a good link to get a basic background of the case before moving on if you want.

1. Dr. Luke's Deleted Tweets
It has recently came out that Dr. Luke went back and deleted photos of Kesha from his twitter. The only way that this came forward was because someone, somewhere,had taken a screenshot of it for whatever reason and was able to show the date and time that he had posted it that he has since gone back and deleted. This is just more proof that simply deleting something off of your account does not mean that it doesn't exist anymore. Dr. Luke's sketchy slip-up of this is a perfect example.

2: There is a Gofundme for Kesha
One of the main parts of the case is that Kesha wants Dr. Luke taken off of her work and wants to be able to produce not only another producer, but outside of Sony, because Sony has done nothing to defend or protect Kesha. So some person just randomly created a gofundme for Kesha to buy out of her contract. There are a few notable things about this. We don't even know as a public if Kesha is even able to buy out of her contract. The goal is set at $2 million dollars which may be the amount, but this hasn't really been confirmed. Next, the person who made the gofundme even admitted that right now the money is set up to go to HIS account. There is no way to make sure or regulate that this money is actually going to get to Kesha and used for the purpose that it is intended for. This is also sketch, but a way that is really important for the movement as a whole that has been made possible and means a lot through social media.

3: Taylor Swift's Donation
This is in the same vein as above, but Taylor Swift has donated $250,000 to Kesha to help with the case. (This is a lot of money for someone who is already rich and affluent enough but that is besides the point) T-Swift did this very quietly and did not make a statement about it. Demi Levato and Selena Gomez have both opened up about their awful experiences that they have had which mostly btw has been done over social media. Taylor Swift has taken a lot of slack from Kesha fans and other celebrities for not making a bigger statement about the donation that she gave. The donation was substantial but the fact that it was under the table makes it look like T-Swift didn't want this to be a fully public donation which is harmful because she needs to loudly support in order to change the culture around this case.

In all of these situations, social media has significantly influenced this case, and the social movements surrounding the case issues. Again, this is not unique to the Kesha case, but also applies to many other legal cases.