The talk of the town to close out the year has been none other than Elon Musk’s coup of Twitter. The billionaire has been busy, to say the least, since taking over the social media platform three days ahead of Halloween. Before the controversy over the eight-dollar plan for blue verification checkmarks even had time to resolve itself, the app was already seeing millions of tearful “last tweets” as employees were dismissed in such large quantities that it was difficult to see how the platform would continue operating. After gutting the child safety team, removing the app’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, and reinstating former president Donald Trump’s account as the result of a poll (among other things), Musk has made many substantial changes in his apparent crusade for free speech, but whether or not they are for the better — or even legal — is still in contention.

On November 1, 2022, Taylor Swift announced her first concert tour in over five years. What should have been a joyous occasion turned into chaos as Ticketmaster crashed after receiving a record-breaking 3.5 billion system requests on the day of presale, four times their previous record. As a result of the site crash and insufficient ticket supply to meet demand, Ticketmaster canceled the general public ticket sale much to the dismay of both Taylor and her fans. The ticket fiasco has since called into question the legality of Ticketmaster's operations following its controversial merger with Live Nation in 2010. Several politicians and lawmakers have called for an investigation into whether Ticketmaster is operating as an illegal monopoly, possibly violating multiple antitrust laws. A lawsuit has also been filed against Ticketmaster for alleged breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, and fraud.

Kim Kardashian’s recent lawsuit surrounding a cryptocurrency ad she posted on Instagram raised questions about what American policies actually are surrounding advertisements. This blog post discusses what Kardashian’s post violated and the implications of the related lawsuit. The rise of social media and how influencer advertising culture interacts with advertisement policy is also discussed.

This blog post reviews that background around the Work and Mobility Act that was recently passed in both the Massachusetts House and Senate. This law allows undocumented immigrants to apply for a drivers license while having to provide two pieces of documentation to prove their identity. This law passed but a petition stopped it from going into full effect, which caused the law to put on the Massachusetts ballot for voters to decide on it in November.