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LAW-20102 - Module Specification
School of Law
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2024/25 Last Updated: 26 April 2024

LAW-20102 - Social Media and The Law
Coordinator: Laura Higson-Bliss
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733218

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

LAW-10039 Legal Essentials

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

In this exciting and topical module, you will explore the challenges in the application of law to social media. You will focus on the legal and social issues that social media creates, including how the law applies to social media complaints and serves to balancing the competing rights to privacy and freedom of expression. Covering civil and criminal offences, you will broaden and deepen your understanding of the regulatory challenges in areas such as defamation, child protection and online safety, including cyberharrassment, image-based abuse and sexting.

Aims
This module aims to:
- introduce students to the role of social media in modern society and highlight the social and legal issues which have emerged
- understand how the law (both criminal and civil) has been applied in a social media context
- critical discuss the application of the law to social media
- reflect on how social media is regulated both inside and outside the UK

Intended Learning Outcomes

Explain the legal and social issues social media has presented
: 1,2
Develop competent arguments regarding the success and limits of the law in addressing the challenges posed by social media
: 1
Identify relevant primary and secondary, legal and non-legal materials, relating to the subject matter through library and online databases such as WestLaw and LexixNexis, as well as other internet sources: 1,2
Define areas of law which are relevant to the use of social media; organise and conduct research: 1,2
Communicate effectively on the topic of social media and the law for a non-specialist audience: 2

Study hours

12 x 2 Interactive Lectures = 24 hours
Preparation for interactive lectures = 30 hours
Structured engagement with on-line resources (including Podcasts/ Video) = 4 hours
Online Q&A assessment support = 2 hour
Independent study hours = 40 hours
Assessment preparation = 50 hours
TOTAL = 150 hours

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Essay weighted 40%
Essay of 1,000 words (excluding footnotes)
Essay of 1,000 words critically discussing the legal and social issues social media has presented from a predetermined list of topics informed by the module content.

2: Commentary weighted 60%
Blog/podcast/vlog of 1500 word or 15 minutes on module material
Students will produce either a written, spoken or video commentary of 1500 words or 15 minutes aiming to communicate to a non-specialist audience how the law applies to social media. This will be informed by the module content.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 26 April 2024