A lot of unregulated activities are thriving on social media that if left untamed can hurt businesses. FILE | FOTOSEARCH
What you need to know:
When drawing up your social media policy, consider the needs of your business vis-a-vis existing laws. A too stringent social media policy is unconstitutional and one that is too lax would not serve the intended purpose.
An advertisement recently caught my attention on Facebook. It was about a product that promised users weight loss in seven days and apparently had no side effects. To access the product, all you had to do was to e-mail the owner and have the product delivered.
This had me thinking that a lot of unregulated trade goes on through social media pages. Some of the trading could have an adverse effect on the consumers. As in the case above, the pills were imported from the US and there was no way the consumer could attest to their safety.
Sometime last year there was a public outcry about a Facebook page formed by campus students and that people claimed was used to promote prostitution. The government loses a lot of revenue from unregulated trading that goes on through social media. The challenges faced in the increased use of social media are common globally with the underlying question revolving around its regulation.
The Constitution provides for freedom of information and freedom of speech. This means the government would be going overboard in outlawing any forms of social media, for that would be curtailing the Bill of Rights.
In some jurisdictions, however, social media has been totally outlawed. The issue for consideration is whether to regulate only some aspects. There is already some form of regulation through the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Kenya Information Act.
It is, for example, an offence to use social media to promote illegal activities. Already a number of persons have been charged in court for misusing the platforms. In the US, there is a more detailed regulation of social media and perhaps it’s something Kenyan legislators can consider adopting.
However, when it comes to your business, human resource policy, computer policy and employment laws can provide some sort of social media regulation for staff. For example, you can specifically contract that staff are not allowed to make any posts that would breach the confidentiality and image of the employer.
It is, however, difficult to totally control usage of social media due to the constitutional provisions. For example, if you sacked somebody on the grounds that they belonged to a certain social media group and the person can show that the group has no direct impact on your business, then it would expose you to a suit on wrongful termination. Most businesses do not have a social media policy and it is advisable to have one to ensure your staff use the platform in a way that enhances business.
It is also good to train your staff on use in the best interests of your business. A US company had to sack an employee after her post suggested she stood a risk of contracting HIV as she was coming to Africa. The company had to issue an apology and also take disciplinary action against the employee.
When drawing up your social media policy, consider the needs of your business vis-a-vis existing laws. A too stringent social media policy is unconstitutional and one that is too lax would not serve the intended purpose.
