I have been running a blog since 2008, so I have plenty of firsthand experience in blogging and recognize how excellent a platform it is for sharing ideas, promoting your business, and engaging with a wider audience. To make sure that your bases are covered, from having a proper privacy policy, to making sure you are not gathering the email address of readers without their consent, it is vital to familiarize yourself with copyright laws, privacy regulations, and FTC disclosure rules. 

Although I am not a lawyer, and you should certainly seek legal advice to confirm the information I have gathered below, I have put together the information I consider critical legal considerations for bloggers, to help protect your content and remain compliant with the law. 

Disclaimer: You can’t and don’t need to do all of what I am going to cover overnight, but understanding the potential benefits as well as risks and implications of everything related to blogging will help you prioritize your efforts. That’s why I tried to be as comprehensive as possible with this list.

Ready to get started?

First, let’s take a closer look at copyright laws. 

Copyright Laws for Bloggers

Copyright laws for bloggers are similar to those for standard forms of writing, in that when you create your posts and hit “publish,” your work is protected by copyright laws. Although legal professionals can still be consulted prior to publishing, or on the heels of suspected infringement, the legal issue of whether or not blog posts are copyrighted is a moot one; published work is the property of their creator, even when the publishing medium is a blog. 

That being said, copyrighted content can get a little bit trickier to define or identify when it is not a blog post, but a blog post along with images and videos. Text is easily copyrighted, and provided that you are generating the images or videos yourself, your content is also your intellectual property when it is posted on your blog. When you begin using others’ work, however, or people make use of your photos and videos, the legality and legal protections may be more difficult to understand. 

Just as you must cite your sources in a paper, you must cite your sources when you are using images or videos in your blog, and others must cite you properly if the images and videos being used are yours. If these rules are not followed, you can encounter legal issues, as you will have effectively violated the legal rights of the creator of the image or video. 

Fair Use Doctrine

Fair Use Doctrine describes the copyright laws and how they apply to using text or media when you are not the copyright holder. Essentially, what Fair Use dictates is that if you are not the copyright owner, you have the right to utilize the text or media for the purpose of criticizing, delivering news, expressing commentary, or teaching. Some of these uses can be a little shaky in their descriptions to make sure you are working within the legal requirements of fair use, but to make your blog legal and issue-free, it is best to assume that an item must have proper attribution, and must be formatted in a way that clearly delineates to whom it belongs. 

Let’s say, for instance, that you came across a quote on business from a blog you love, and you are eager to apply that quote to your own work. You cannot merely pop the snippet in quotes and call it a day. Instead, legal blogs focus on adhering to basic blogging rules such as citing the original source via a clear link to the original text, an acknowledgment of the author, or a means of identifying and subsequently reading the text. The same is true of media found in blog postings, so make sure that your blogging business is not plucking images and text from a quick search. 

To make sure that you are falling within the bounds of fair use, make sure you use quotations and identify the author or source when possible. Images can be sourced from free image sites or software, but should still receive attribution in the form of a “sourced from…” caption or tag, or a link back to the owner of the image. There are some obvious exceptions here, such as when guest posts are used, but even in these cases, it is best to acknowledge the origin of a writer, photographer, or videographer’s work. 

Consequences of Copyright Infringement

Keeping your blog legal is vital, as online businesses can suffer significant fines and damages, as well as receiving a takedown notice when using text and media without proper attribution or permission from the copyright holder. Infringing on copyright laws is a serious legal issue, from your blog to your email newsletter, so make sure that you adhere to all copyright laws, even when you are simply creating content for your email list. 

Lawsuits are possible consequences when using copyrighted material without having the proper intellectual property rights in place, and many legal services will gladly mount a case against people who do not adhere to copyright laws. Lawsuits can result in the loss of potential clients, and the legal consequences range from paying perceived losses from the infringement to having to take your site down altogether, depending on the severity of the offense. 

Fines are also possible legal consequences for those who do not honor copyright protection. Fines can be small or large, depending on the degree to which an individual has violated copyright laws. Fines can be relatively small, or they can be large enough to lead to the loss of your site or even your business. 

Having content taken down is another common type of legal consequence incurred when you violate copyright laws. A takedown order can apply to original content in the form of text, images, audio, or video, and business owners should always make sure their blogging efforts are not in vain by using only content that has been created in-house, or cleared for general use. 

Ultimately, copyright issues are often a simple matter of not using what does not belong to you. The waters can grow somewhat murky when phrasing is similar, but copyright laws generally protect with precision, rather than generalities. This means making sure you do not steal phrases outright, use photos, videos, or audio that does not belong to you, and provide appropriate attribution when you use content made by online content creators other than yourself. Following these guidelines can help when you have legal questions about use, legal liabilities, and copyright laws. 

Further Reading: What is Blog Marketing? How Can It Work for Your Business?

How to Protect Your Blog Content

Protecting your blog content can be as simple as hitting “publish,” as this technically fulfills the requirements for online content creators. That being said, however, the legal provisions awarded to creators may not be enough to ward off would-be copycats from stealing valuable content. To help protect your blog content, consider using the copyright symbol on your site and providing copyright notices. Although these do not afford more legal provisions than simply being the owner of the copyrighted material, they can help deter people. A disclaimer template can be found online, if you are not comfortable creating your own language for a copyright notice. 

If you want further protection for your work, and have some legal questions and reservations about the presence of a copyright disclaimer, you can license your content under Creative Commons. Depending on the license you select, you have the option of retaining standard copyright, wherein your work cannot be used as a whole, or adopting one of several different licenses, allowing your work to be used under very specific circumstances. 

Privacy Laws

Privacy laws do not cover the legal issue of copyright. Instead, the legal issues covered by privacy laws are those regarding the gathering of information, the storage and usage of that information, and the processes by which that information is collected. The details of how a site or entity follows privacy laws is typically detailed by a privacy policy. It is through the verbiage of a privacy policy that site users agree to the practices found within the policy and consent to providing certain types of information. 

GDPR Compliance (General Data Protection Regulation)

General Data Protection Regulation describes the privacy and security law put forth by the EU. It was designed for sites that gather information, in order to protect privacy and support adequate security. Bloggers who collect personal data from their visitors should be familiar with the regulation, particularly if they serve users from the EU, as the regulation can impact your blogging business if you do not adhere to privacy and security requirements. If you do not adhere to those requirements, you can be met with significant fines. The main takeaway is this: if you are gathering information from visitors or users, make sure you are making your policies clear AND make sure you give users the option to opt out. 

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)

This particular act applies specifically to California residents. Under the CCPA, residents of California have the right to know what information is being gathered, to opt out of data gathering, to correct any inaccuracies within the data that has been gathered, and the right to limit the use and disclosure of any information gathered. 

Privacy Policies

I briefly touched on privacy policies above, but your blogging business should not go without privacy policies, if any instance of data collection occurs. A privacy policy should not make any false statements about your intentions to use or gather data, and should offer a detailed explanation of the purpose for gathering information, and how to opt out. The use of cookies, data collection, and user rights should all be found in your privacy policy, and the failure to include each of these components can result in some serious legal issues. 

Cookie Consent and Tracking

Laws have come into effect, and those laws can affect the way you carry out your blogging business. Cookie consent laws dictate that sites that utilize cookies both offer an upfront acknowledgement that cookies are being stored, and an option to quickly and easily opt out. The precise requirements will vary from state to state, but it is often best to adhere to the strictest laws for cookie usage and tracking data–i.e. make users aware and get permission–to prevent any issues with legal services down the road. 

FTC Guidelines for Bloggers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has very clear requirements regarding the disclosure of relationships. This means that affiliate relationships and affiliate programs, sponsored posts, and more must all be readily declared by the content creator in question. This can include guest posts made by people with whom your blogging business have a relationship, or sponsored posts put out ahead of a product release. 

Disclosure Requirements

Financial relationships are required to be disclosed, and this includes sponsored content, affiliate links, and any paid promotions. Disclosure policy templates can be found in spades online, but the language need not be complicated. A simple acknowledgement of the presence of financial gain or relationships is enough to satisfy disclosure requirements, no matter the types of content being provided. 

Best Practices for Transparency

Transparency is vital to honor the disclosure requirements for informational purposes. Original content and reposted content alike are required to follow basic disclosures any time an exchange of goods, services, or compensation takes place. You can provide disclosures through a verbal acknowledgment, a piece of text, or an audio snippet, but providing all three can be the best way to make sure you are not violating any legal guides. 

Defamation and Libel

Defamation and libel both describe false statements that are designed to effectively tarnish someone’s reputation, but libel is a statement made in writing. To avoid getting into trouble with legal experts, any online business owner or blogger should take pains to make sure their information is up to date and correct when making a claim regarding another person. Although avoiding commentary that could be considered either defamation or libel is ideal, if you do decide to make a claim, make sure you have evidence to back up that claim. 

How Bloggers Can Avoid Defamation

To avoid defamation or claims of defamation, verify all facts prior to publishing. Avoid making specific claims about any one person, if possible; if not possible, ensure you have precise instances of the claims you are making. Avoid personal attacks in your work, instead focusing on situations or concepts. 

Further Reading: How Might a Business Use a Blog: 9 Huge Benefits of Business Blogging

Legal Consequences of Defamation

The most significant consequence that comes as a result of engaging in defamation is a lawsuit. Lawsuits are certainly nothing to poke fun at, however; as any legal guide or even law firm blog can attest, defamation lawsuits can be lengthy and expensive, and are certainly better off avoided entirely. Bloggers can sustain a deadly blow to blogging income if they are engaged in a defamation lawsuit, so blog post writers should direct their attention to topics that do not venture anywhere close to defamatory statements or false claims. 

Intellectual Property and Trademarks

I briefly touched on intellectual property above, but there are specific protections to consider when you are creating your own posts and gathering inspiration. Although an entire blog is unlikely to infringe upon intellectual property and trademarks, there are certainly instances when a blog or site is largely problematic or errs on the side of infringement. 

Trademark Infringement

Trademark infringement differs somewhat from copyright infringement, because it focuses not on text or created works, but instead focuses on the intellectual property protected by trademarks. A trademark describes any image, text, design, or symbol used to differentiate one brand, company, or product from another. Think the checkmark synonymous to Nike, or the castle attached to Disney. Using or copying these trademarks can result in some legal trouble. 

How to Protect Your Brand

To make sure your own branding efforts are protected, go through the trademark process for your blog name, your logo, and even your tagline. This will help maintain your intellectual property. Fortunately, you can register a trademark in order to protect your blog name, its logo, or even its tagline, in order to protect your intellectual property. 

Blog Comment Policies and Liability

While any blog business is liable for the information posted, and even the advertising on blogs, not as much attention is given to comments. Whether you are an official business entity or just getting started out in your blogging journey, make sure you acknowledge the possibility of liability issues coming up in your comment section. 

Further Reading: Here’s How to Structure a Blog Post for Both Readers and Search Engines

Moderating Blog Comments

It can seem as though you are safe from legal issues if you do not author a particular comment, you are responsible for your site, including comments made on your site and any guest bloggers. Make it clear to your readers that you will remove any comments that are cruel, unkind, or inaccurate, and moderate blog comments regularly to prevent defamatory, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate comments on your site. 

Disclaimers and Policies

A comment policy or disclaimer is often the best way to protect you and any business partnerships you may have from legal liability, as these make it clear how you will handle unwanted or inappropriate comments. Making a disclaimer that you are not liable for third-party comments is also ideal. 

Monetizing Your Blog and Legal Considerations

So many people race to a dedicated handbook for bloggers, eager to make a name for themselves. That being said, however, monetizing your blog is not always straightforward, and typically bloggers need to establish themselves quite well prior to seeing a significant increase in followers. This is to say nothing of the legal considerations to take into account when monetizing your blog. I have identified some of the best practices below. 

Further Reading: 7 Proven Methods How to Monetize a Blog in 2024

Affiliate Marketing Disclosures

Writers and content creators are required to disclose all affiliate partnerships when developing and subsequently monetizing content. Legally, you are obligated to acknowledge or disclose affiliate partnerships when you monetize content. Legal policies do not require a specific set of words; instead, these policies focus on professional advice regarding the acknowledgement of financial relationships and how they have impacted purchasing or sales. 

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts must be acknowledged clearly, to make sure readers know that you are being compensated via services or products in exchange for your ad or review. This helps maintain trust between users. Write clear disclosures on all sponsored content; expert advice dictates that disclosures are clear, concise, and effective in identifying material relationships. 

Tax Implications for Bloggers

Although you should always seek your tax professional for advice regarding tax and tax filing, understand that you may be required to spend money on taxes–even if your blogging is not supported by monetary exchanges, but products or services. All in-depth accounting questions are best reserved for your tax professional, but if you earn income from your blog, you likely are required to report it on your taxes. 

Protecting Your Blog Legally

Online entrepreneurs should look into all of the possible legal protections available to them. Bloggers may bear some personal liability for their blog, so it is important to provide your blog (and potentially your livelihood) with some basic legal protection. I have identified some of the simplest and most valuable legal protections below. 

Legal Disclaimer for Blogs

Legal disclaimers are important, and they can help identify exactly what visitors to your site can expect. Legal disclaimers are fairly common, and you have likely encountered one while visiting different websites. Disclaimers can be individual for specific posts or campaigns (think giveaway terms or guidelines) or they can be more generalized to apply legal terms to your site or brand overall. 

One simple way to make sure that you are not liable is to have a liability statement. Common statements in this realm include “The information in this post is not included to identify or diagnose x, y, or z…” These simply make it clear that the site owner or blogger is not responsible for the behavior or a third party, and that any attempts to point the finger at the blogger will not be accepted. 

Further Reading: 15 Blog Writing Tips for Before, During, and After Writing Your Post

Terms and Conditions Page

The frustrating issue of how to develop terms and conditions pages for blogs need not be complex. Terms and conditions are essential, as they help define the relationship between a blog and its readers. Terms and conditions can outline how a brand or company takes in and stores information, grants rights to those who feel violated by the content, and can even give an overview of any affiliate programs of which you are a part. 

Conclusion

A blogging gig can be both fulfilling and profitable, and can open the door to other opportunities like offering coaching services. Along with feeling fulfilling, however, blogging comes with very real legal responsibilities. Cultivating a full understanding of blogging laws–including copyright, privacy, and FTC guidelines–can help protect your content, avoid legal pitfalls, and build trust with your audience. From business partners’ disclosures, to proper data collection etiquette, legal blog writing requires some attention to detail. Following the legal best practices will ensure that your blog is operating smoothly while maintaining your compliance with local and worldwide regulations.