The Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals When Using Social Media

By Sean,

This blog is about the rights and responsibilities of individuals when using social media. It will inform you about the laws surrounding social media and what could happen if you break those laws. It will also talk about the responsibilities you and other social media users have when using a social media platform.

There are no specific laws in the UK that specifically govern Social Media. There are however laws that protect Social Media, such as the Malicious Communications Act of 1988, which people can face up to six months imprisonment or fined up to £5,000 for violating and the Criminal Justice and Police Act of 2001 (Section 43), the fines and punishments for this legislation as the same as the Malicious Communications Act of 1988. These laws cover Social Media as well as other types of e-communication, including e-mail.

These laws state that it is illegal to send indecent or offensive messages, threats, or false information about an individual with the intent of causing distress or anxiety to an individual, if found guilty of sending such content, under the harassment Act of 1997, you could face a fine and up to six months imprisonment.

Your rights regarding social media are similar to any other form of communication e.g. telephone or texting. Therefore, you have the right to feel safe and the right to have freedom of speech, unless, as stated above, the content is malicious. You also have the support and protection of the police and the UK Legal system when making a claim against someone who has stated a malicious falsehood against you or any other malicious act on social media.

Your responsibilities regarding social media are numerous, these include, knowing that the things you post on social media are permanent, meaning there’s no undo button for messages sent and even if you delete the message the social media platform keeps all messages that are and have been posted in the past. An example of this is when a woman accidentally posted a video of her and her husband having sex. "I accidentally posted a video of my husband and I having sex...I didn't mean to post it, I had accidentally clicked on the video of my daughter taking her first steps and on that video and they both uploaded together...I didn't know I had posted it until the day after, when I logged on again, and I saw all the comments from all of our friends and family, and my "husbands" co-workers (he's in the Army)." It also includes not hastily posting something on social media, think before you type. You don’t know who will be on the receiving end of your post and that person/s could be vastly affected by what you’ve said.