Social Media Liability and Your Business

Social media can be a great way for businesses to market services and interact with consumers. These platforms also put the company at risk because they can be exploited. Your business could be held liable for any security breaches. Taking a few steps will help to reduce the risks that social media presents to your business.

• Consider non-disclosure agreements for employees: The information your employees post across social media can make those individuals the targets of hackers or could expose your company to risk. You should consider having employees sign a social media non-disclosure agreement. A non-disclosure agreement is a contract that states employees will not list the place of employment on social media and will not post information about the company on those platforms. This can protect your business in many ways.
• Hire the right information technology staff members: Mitigating your social media liability involves having the right information technology staff members in place. You need to hire people who have the current technical knowledge of social media necessary to implement a strong defense against possible attacks. You might also want to consider training your existing information technology staff members in the latest social media technologies.
• Require everyone to use privacy and security settings: Any single person using an unsecured social media account online can open up your company to a range of risks and liability issues. This is why it is a good idea to require everyone to use privacy and security settings when interacting with social media platforms. These settings will hide information, stop automatic server actions and prevent a range of attacks from occurring.
• Get insurance for cyber liability: Even the most secure businesses still run the risk of liability issues stemming from social media. Cyber liability insurance is a way to defend the business if something does occur online. The policy will help to cushion the blow of lawsuits and penalties that might come if private information is posted, destroyed or stolen though social media. Your business needs cyber liability insurance to protect against current and future risks.

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