U.S. regulators, probing comments posted by Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings on Facebook Inc.'s site, are being urged to reconsider disclosure rules created years before the advent of social media.

Netflix said it may face a Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit after Hastings told Facebook followers in July that Netflix customers watched more than 1 billion hours of videos in June, according to a filing by Netflix yesterday. The company said that it didn't issue an accompanying press release or make a filing with regulators.

Companies and executives are increasingly relying on sites such as Facebook and Twitter Inc. — alongside news wires and other more traditional outlets — to communicate with the public. It's time for the SEC to update its policies to account for the widening role played by social media in helping companies be more transparent, said Stephen Diamond, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University.