Social Media Law and Ethics: How to Prevent a Crisis

The world of social media is a relatively new one, and what’s considered fair play and what can end up costing an organization hundreds of thousands in fines is separated by just a few mouse clicks.

A report featured late June by AdWeek shows that many companies and governments are unaware of many social media laws and ethical standards that can cost them dearly.

One such item is that disparaging an employer via social media is legally protected, given that the discussions are done for organizational purposes to arrange collective bargaining and to improve working conditions. Issues like wages, working hours and working conditions can all be discussed.

Additionally, employees who tweet on behalf of their employers without disclosing their status as employees can be fined up to $11,000 per incident. Another hefty fine is attached to buying fake reviews on social networks, as it, too, is illegal. Some companies have been fined as much as $250,000. Incidently, the percentage of fake reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor are estimated by some to be as high as 30 percent.

Other factoids include: 

• Less than one-third of employers offer social media training.
• Only 0.2 percent of users open the terms of use for a social media website before using it.
• The Federal Trade Commission fined Expert Global Solutions $3.2 million for its illicit online data collection practices.
• Little guys get fined, too. Bloggers can be fined $8,000 for publishing images without permission by the content owner.

As the relevance of social media grows and becomes more complex, government organizations looking to leverage the benefits of social media are also encouraged to educate their employees on all the things that can go wrong.