A social media law expert has warned that social media comments made in a “personal capacity” can have an impact on professional lives, by virtue of the fact that they are associated with employers in an online space.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Radio 702, legal expert, Emma Sadleir warned that the caveat, \u201cI tweet in my personal capacity” on people\u2019s Twitter profiles, are wrong to assume that it\u2019s a type of \u2018magic wand\u2019 which will absolve them of any kind of responsibility in an instance where they get it wrong, or where they upset their employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to have that caveat, think of it as an editorial comment, rather than a legal disclaimer, because it’s not going to help at all, if you get it wrong. I actually really don\u2019t like any \u2018these views are my own, they don\u2019t represent the views of my employer\u2019 \u2013 there is an automatic association (with one’s employer),” Sadleir said.<\/p>\n
Sadleir\u2019s comments follow a situation where Tshwane city spokesman, Selby Bokaba threatened\u00a0to withhold information from Sapa after it published his tweets about a police hit list.<\/p>\n
Bokaba\u00a0argued that he was tweeting in his personal capacity, not as the spokesman for the City of Tshwane.<\/p>\n
Sadleir noted that, in the instance of Bokaba, he said that his views on Twitter did not reflect his employer, but rather, were personal statements. He said he only tweeted in his employer\u2019s capacity when using their resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid that\u2019s absolutely false,\u201d Sadleir said. \u201cAs soon as you can be associated with your employer, the potential exists for you to bring them into disrepute\u2026Twitter is not a personal forum, it\u2019s not private, it\u2019s very public, and certainly news agencies are entitled to pick up on any tweets as they are posted into the public domain.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that the CCMA has been consistent in its rulings on social media. Where you bring your employer into disrepute, you can be fired.<\/p>\n
Sadleir highlighted the case of Justine Sacco, a former InterActiveCorp (IAC) employee, who tweeted before leaving on a flight from\u00a0London to South Africa: \u201cGoing to Africa, hope I don\u2019t get AIDS. Just kidding. I\u2019m white\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sacco was subsequently fired over her comment, but not before IAC’s shares tumbled, despite the\u00a0company\u00a0dissociating\u00a0itself from her views. “It’s really important that companies realise that this is an issue that they need to deal with,”\u00a0Sadleir said.<\/p>\n
Media expert Anton Harber said Sapa was within its rights to quote Bokaba\u2019s tweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you have any problem using it. If you say something on Twitter, it\u2019s public and you are perfectly entitled to quote it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that Sapa was not obliged to call him to verify that he was the source.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it would be fair to him [Bokaba] to say he was tweeting in his unofficial capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sapa had made it clear in its story that Bokaba had told the news agency he was tweeting in his personal capacity and was attending the funeral as he and Tshabalala were friends and had previously worked together.<\/p>\n
Sapa bites back at Tshwane spokesman over Twitter spat<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The biggest SA social media storms of 2013<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n