Employees & Social Media Use – Riots & Protests Highlight The Risks & Challenges Facing Businesses Today

The modern world is packed with challenges for business owners that you couldn’t even have imagined a decade ago. One of those that many are facing up to is the impact of social media – and not necessarily from a brand’s point of view.

These days, everyone is all too ready to share their personal details and private life with the world, which can include posting their place of work on their Facebook or LinkedIn page.

And then, an unfortunate number will use their personal social media accounts to potentially bring your business into disrepute, even if their actions have nothing to do with you as a business.

The UK riots and protests of August 2024 are a prime example. Many people are sharing their strong beliefs online, with several people incriminating themselves by sharing views that are racist or inciting violence or other criminal behaviour.

If that person has their employment listed on their profiles, business-owners can quickly find themselves facing emails, tweets and more asking if you’re happy to employ someone with these views, if they are views that your business shares, and whether you stand by your employee and their right to act in such a way.

It’s essentially a public trial, and it can put businesses in a really tough position.

How can a private investigator help?

It may be that, during these times, you need the help of a private investigator to protect yourself and your business.

It might be that you’ve been contacted by someone, claiming that an employee of yours is responsible for a specific social media account spreading hate. You may need at PI to verify whether this is true.

It could be that you have your own suspicions about employees and you feel the need to get ahead, and employ an investigator to essentially vet your team and make sure they aren’t sharing content online that could pose a risk.

Or it might be that a case has been brought and you need to build evidence either in support of, or against, your employee to determine the resolution of an investigation.

Private investigators are not miracle workers when it comes to tracking social media use, but they are the best equipped resource to look deeper than your average joe can when using social networks.

A PI knows the different trails that people leave behind them online, and the various groups that people may be using to share their content ‘out of sight’, and yet still public enough to potentially become a PR disaster for you.

Most importantly, a good private investigator knows the legal boundaries that can’t be crossed as part of an investigation, and so can look into your employees on your behalf without opening you up to any further lawsuits.

If you have any questions around this or other background checks that a PI could help with, give us a call on 01772 334700 to find out more.