No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Career Connection
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Whitepapers & Reports
    • eBooks
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Career Connection
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Whitepapers & Reports
    • eBooks
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home Compliance

Big Corporate Titles, Big Social Media Mistakes

by Devin Redmond
April 21, 2015
in Compliance
social media man

Social media gaffes know no corporate hierarchy.  With more and more execs using and being encouraged to use Social Media, the instant and public ramification of a gaffe, blunder, or exploit the stakes keep rising.  These can result in much more than embarrassment for the perpetrator and their company.  Ramifications and fallout can include spreading malware, mishandling the PII of high profile individuals, violating federal regulations, or triggering the scrutiny of regulatory bodies.

In February, Twitter CFO Anthony Noto’s account was hacked and some 698 spammy tweets were sent out from his account over an eight-minute period.

twitter

Noto is no stranger to social media mishaps. A few months ago, he accidentally publicly tweeted what was intended to be a private direct message – twice. On November 25th, Noto’s referred to a potential acquisition, saying:  “I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 —  we will need to sell him. i have a plan.” Then, two days later, another unusual message was published, suggesting yet another mistake.

Twitter 2

Executive Mishaps More and More Common

Noto is not the first prominent executive to make a mistake on his personal social media account. In fact, his tweets are just one of many gaffes made by corporate elites within the past few years that have disclosed sensitive company information, included inappropriate content, such as racism, hate, pornography, or circulated harmful material like spam and malware via account hijack.  As social media has grown as a communications medium for personal and professional use, so has the potential for mishaps.

Just ask Gene Morphis, former CFO of Francesca’s Holdings Corp., who lost his job after making Facebook and Twitter posts improperly disclosing confidential financial information in violation of company policy. Or Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, who inadvertently violated the SEC’s Regulation Fair Disclosure after announcing via his personal Facebook account that Netflix viewing “exceeding  1 billion hours [of video] for the first time ever.” Similarly, Justine Sacco, a former IAC PR executive, made an offensive racist tweet correlating AIDS to race that cost her job.Greg Gopman, former CEO of hackathon organizer AngelHack, felt the impact of a social media post gone wrong when he received widespread backlash after a highly insensitive Facebook post attacking the homeless and poor population of San Francisco.

Executive Accounts and Regulatory Guidelines

Executive blunders on social not only hurt brands through negative publicity, but they can also lead to a host of legal ramifications. The FCA, FDA, SEC, FFIEC, and FINRA are just a handful of regulatory agencies that have published guidelines governing what companies and their employees can and cannot do on social media. The abundance, complexity, constant revisions of these guidelines has made it difficult for companies to track.

It’s Only Going to Grow

This becomes all the more challenging when employees’ personal accounts are factored into the mix. While employees may not consider themselves the voice of their company, in the eyes of the public and even the law, their words reflect upon the brand. Add in the extra impact when an errant post comes from a brand’s executive, and the risk of damage becomes extremely high. Given the rise of a new breed of young executive raised in a culture of informality and sharing on social media, we expect that this problem is only going to grow.

Treat Executives Differently

On social media, preventing executive mistakes requires a combination of training and technology different from that of the average employee. Here are three basic recommendations to mitigate risk.

  1. Training geared towards executives – Since the risk of damage is so high when it comes to executive posts, educating senior-level management on what they can and cannot say on social is the first step in preventing mistakes. This training must go beyond today’s standard social media training typified by attesting to reading a short blurb on social media in the employee handbook. Talk to your executives directly about risks, and make sure that they fully understand that their personal accounts may be monitored to enforce that policy. Provide examples of mistakes made by other executives and the real consequences those mistakes might have.
  2. Consider Controls that review posts pre-publishing – Executive content can be moderated by a person reading each post although some execs will not be happy about that level of control over a personal account. Another less intrusive option is automated tools that scan posts for problems and provides warnings when questionable language is detected.
  3. Automated tools to analyze content post-publishing –Automated content moderation tools can scan all posts and automatically generate alerts or delete posts in the event of a policy violation.

For more information on how Nexgate can help your executives safely engage on social, contact us to schedule a demo.


Tags: Social Media Risk
Previous Post

Compliance, Cloud Security and Environmental Law: Learning from Past Experience

Next Post

Conselium: Boston Scientific Names Elena Kolosova Compliance Counsel in Moscow

Devin Redmond

Devin Redmond

About the Author
Devin Redmond is a seasoned marketing executive and product planner with over 16 years of experience in public and private companies. Devin is passionate about leveraging technology to address the security, measurement, and management challenges organizations face in today’s cloud, mobile, and social environments. Devin’s career includes executive and leadership roles in product management, marketing, business development, and sales.

Related Posts

whistleblower congress

Blowing the Whistle: Exploring Federal Protections After Twitter Testimony

by Katherine Krems
September 28, 2022

Twitter’s been in the news of late thanks to Elon Musk’s (failed?) takeover bid, but another recent bit of Twitter...

sec messaging apps investment firms

SEC Sanctions Warn Investment Firms That Good Intentions Aren’t Enough on Messaging Apps

by Mark J. Tarallo
May 24, 2022

Think your firm’s policies will protect against sanctions for failing to meet the books and records requirements? If your rules...

musk free speech tweet

As Musk’s Tweet Inadvertently Illustrates, the Letter of the Law Has Its Limits

by Christian Hunt
May 11, 2022

Aspiring Twitter owner and current Tesla CEO Elon Musk has indicated that if he succeeds in buying the social media...

elon musk twitter

Know Your Customer? Know Your Human. Compliance Lessons From Elon Musk’s Promised Assault on Twitterbots

by Peter Viksnins
May 11, 2022

Twitter’s new boss is waging war on bots. How he gets it done may offer lessons for GRC professionals. The...

Next Post
conselium

Conselium: Boston Scientific Names Elena Kolosova Compliance Counsel in Moscow

Compliance Job Interview Q&A

Jump to a Topic

AML Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation Banking Board of Directors Board Risk Oversight Business Continuity Planning California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Code of Conduct Communications Management Corporate Culture COVID-19 Cryptocurrency Culture of Ethics Cybercrime Cyber Risk Data Analytics Data Breach Data Governance DOJ Download Due Diligence Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) ESG FCPA Enforcement Actions Financial Crime Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) GDPR HIPAA Know Your Customer (KYC) Machine Learning Monitoring RegTech Reputation Risk Risk Assessment SEC Social Media Risk Supply Chain Technology Third Party Risk Management Tone at the Top Training Whistleblowing
No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2022 Corporate Compliance Insights

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Career Connection
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Whitepapers & Reports
    • eBooks
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT