Ever caught an employee going gung ho on social media badmouthing your workplace? Well social media is a cesspool of defaming and ruining credibility. Privacy is another major concern regarding information sharing on social media. While social media is a great tool for advertising, unfettered use of it is of major concern for corporations. Here are some of the issues regarding misuse of social media.
Defamation
What constitutes as defamation continues to be a tricky question when concerning social media. The participatory nature of social media makes it very easy for defamation cases to arise. For example, LinkedIn has a feature that enables employers to write recommendations on their employee’s profile wall. However, whether they write a good or bad recommendation is up to them. A positive recommendation is well and good but what about a negative one? Would that count as defamation?
Privacy
More than a billion people upload their personal data on social media. Despite privacy settings, a lot of your personal data is still accessed by the social networking site. Does this information ever get deleted? Does previously deleted information get saved? Who else has access to this data? Publicly available social information helps companies in the selection of a candidate. However, it might also lead to discrimination based on information provided on the candidate’s profile. Does this case constitute a breach of privacy?
Third party content
Dealing with copyright content on social media is a tough issue. With the influx of content bombarding social media, a smokescreen is created which enables sharing of copyright content. Do social media sites take responsibility for hosting copyright content? Currently, YouTube is facing multiple suits regarding copyright infringement. Even with stringent copyright laws in place, locating and taking down all copyright content is proving to be too cumbersome.
The laws today cannot keep up with the disruptions caused by social media. The law needs regular updation as the way we share and view digital media is rapidly transforming. To deal with privacy, defamatory or security concerns dealing with social media, ensure proper advice by legal counsel.