Communications and internet law refers to the body of legislation contending with interactions and behaviors occurring over the internet or other telecommunication media. Because of the sprawling nature of telecommunications in the U.S., most telecommunication law is administered on a federal level. This is because the federal government has jurisdiction in any matter occurring across the state lines of two or more states.

The main considerations for businesses operating online is to take heed of the marketing and data collection policies that govern the web. Unlike with physical advertising which is usually mostly beholden to state laws, the internet is regulated by numerous governments and agencies. In the United States most of the internet and telecommunication laws are enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The laws in the U.S. that protect data and privacy are somewhat lackluster compared to places like the EU but there are still some protections intended to keep users safe. Most web sites are required to offer the option for users to opt out of all but the most essential tracking cookies. Additionally, information that is privileged, such as medical records, is also largely protected online unless the user releases the information to a third party. Finally, there are some laws specifically forbidding the collection of data about minors. 

The creation of content online is complex. On the one hand, some people have interpreted websites as disseminators of information like libraries or bookstores. Proponents of this philosophy argue that content created on a website is the responsibility of the website to monitor and control. However, opponents of this philosophy argue that too much content is created on web sites on a daily, or even hourly basis for effective moderation. This school of thought has led to the adoption of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which does not punish websites for having hateful, inciting, copyrighted, or plagiarized content as long as the site is making good faith efforts to address this concerning content. For many sites, intellectual property infringement or hate speech has to be manually flagged by other users with occasional assistance from algorithmic filter searching for content that violates the site’s terms of service.

Harassment and defamation can be difficult to pursue online. Due to the dissociated nature of the internet, a frequent concern is jurisdiction. In the physical world, a harasser must be in the general vicinity of their victim in order to harass. However, online the harasser can be in a different city, state, or even country. This requires a much more coordinated effort to pursue justice. 

Defamation is also tricky to navigate because depending on who is claiming defamation a different standard may need to be met. In the online world if the victim of harassment has a sufficiently large following, it may be argued that the alleged victim of the harassment is a limited-purpose celebrity, imparting a much higher bar for defamation.