Social Media Liability Insurance for Central New York Businesses

You posted a photo on your business's Instagram account to promote your newest product. Two weeks later, you receive a letter from an attorney claiming copyright infringement—the background music in your video belongs to a rights holder who didn't authorize its use. The legal fees start at $15,000 just to respond, and potential damages could reach $150,000.

At the Horan insurance agency, we work with Central New York business owners who face these emerging digital risks. As an independent agency representing multiple carriers, we can help you understand how social media activity creates liability exposure and what coverage your current policies provide for these situations.

This article explains what social media liability involves, how your existing business insurance responds to these claims, and when you might need to explore additional coverage options for CNY businesses with active digital marketing.

How Social Media Creates New Insurance Exposures

Social media liability refers to claims arising from content businesses post, share, or publish on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube. These claims typically fall into several categories:

• Defamation: Libel (written false statements) or slander (spoken false statements) that harm someone's reputation
• Invasion of Privacy: Using someone's name, image, or likeness without permission
• Copyright or Trademark Infringement: Using protected images, music, videos, or logos without authorization
• False or Misleading Advertising: Making unsubstantiated claims about products or competitors

Social media liability isn't a standalone insurance policy. This coverage typically exists within your general liability policy's personal and advertising injury section, or through professional liability (errors and omissions) coverage for businesses that create content as part of their professional services.

Common scenarios create unexpected exposure for Central New York businesses:

• A Syracuse restaurant shares customer photos without permission, and someone sues for invasion of privacy
• An Auburn retail shop posts product images that contain a competitor's trademark in the background
• A Cicero contractor's promotional video uses copyrighted music without licensing it

The exposure extends beyond your own posts. When your business creates content for clients—marketing materials, social media posts, training documents, whitepapers—you take on additional liability considerations.

An Oswego consulting firm develops social media content for a client's campaign, and that content includes unsubstantiated claims about a competitor's products. The consulting firm may face liability even though they don't own the social media account where the content appeared.

What Your General Liability Policy Covers—And Doesn't

Most general liability policies include Coverage B for "personal and advertising injury," which can address certain social media claims. This coverage typically responds to allegations of libel, slander, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement when the violations occur in your advertising.

However, significant limitations apply:

1. Intellectual Property Exclusions: Many carriers have added these to general liability policies in recent years, which can eliminate coverage for copyright infringement claims entirely
2. Advertising Injury Exclusions: Some policies include endorsements that exclude personal and advertising injury coverage altogether
3. Coverage Territory Restrictions: Policy language may limit where claims are covered geographically
4. "Your Advertisement" Definitions: Narrow interpretations of what constitutes advertising can exclude social media posts
5. Intentional Acts Exclusions: Deliberate posting of problematic content won't be covered

A Manlius professional services firm that regularly posts content on LinkedIn might discover their general liability policy won't cover a copyright claim because the carrier interprets their posts as professional services rather than advertising.

The distinction matters for businesses creating content as part of their professional services. General liability policies typically cover advertising injury for promoting your own business, but coverage questions arise when you create content for clients as part of your professional services.

Understanding Coverage Options Through Your Carrier Network

For most Central New York businesses with typical social media use—posting about your products, sharing customer testimonials, announcing sales—your general liability policy's personal and advertising injury coverage often addresses basic social media risks like defamation or invasion of privacy claims.

Businesses with more extensive content creation activities may need to explore additional options:

• Marketing and advertising agencies in Syracuse that create social media campaigns for multiple clients
• Professional services firms that regularly develop content, presentations, or materials for client use
• Businesses with substantial social media marketing budgets and frequent content creation

For these situations, professional liability or errors and omissions coverage may provide broader coverage for content creation activities. Availability varies by carrier, and not all situations require this additional layer. Many businesses find their existing general liability coverage addresses their social media exposure adequately.

The key is understanding what your current policy actually covers. Policy language varies between carriers, and coverage that exists with one insurer might not exist with another. Examining your policy details reveals what coverage you already have in place.

Learn more about professional liability (E&O) coverage.