Contract Scenario Calvin had been an avid coin collector for many years, and the most valuable coin in his collection was an uncirculated, mint condition, 1943 Lincoln penny made of copper (most pe

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E-COMMERCE and the Law

Fraudulent Misrepresentation in Social Media

Online social media offer a prime opportunity for individuals to create false identities. In some cases, these false identities are then used to communicate with unsuspecting individuals, often causing the real individuals who communicate with the misrepresented identities to experience financial or emotional harm. A tragic example of this is the case of United States v. Lori Drew, in which Drew created the false identity of a boy on the MySpace networking site. Megan Meier, a young girl, was lured by Drew and Drew’s daughter to strike up a relationship with the false identity.

When the so-called boy broke up with Meier, Meier unfortunately committed suicide. The prosecution of Drew was unsuccessful. A major issue with the prosecution was that there was no federal statute against cyberbullying, and the judge did not feel comfortable relying on a breach of contract premise, which would make this case of fraudulent misrepresentation equivalent to a case of computer hacking. As the likelihood of fraudulently misrepresenting an individual increases, misrepresentation must be addressed by statutes that cover all possible aspects in which fraudulent representation could occur.

Source: Kim Zetter, “Judge Acquits Lori Drew in Cyberbullying Case, Overrules Jury,” Wired.com, July 2, 2009.

If someone believes undue influence has occurred, asking the following questions can help establish whether there was undue influence:

Was the dominant party rushing the other party to consent?

Did the dominant party gain undue enrichment from the agreement?

Was the non-dominant party isolated from other advisers at the time of the agreement?

Is the contract unreasonable because it overwhelmingly benefits the dominant party?