In The UK, An Employee's Rude Behavior On Social Media Can Be Directly Reprimanded By A Boss

Bosses can now reprimand rude subordinates on social media. (photo: unsplash)

JAKARTA - A group of cybersecurity experts in the UK are urging companies to set up a way for people to report their workers for abusive behavior online. A number of companies have signed up, said the two founders of Respect in Security. The initiative was launched on Thursday, July 22.

Lisa Forte, of Red Goat Cyber Security, said she had received unsolicited explicit content from official accounts on LinkedIn and threats of violence on Twitter and Instagram. The threat did not come from an anonymous account.

Currently social media platforms are facing regular criticism for the way they respond to reported harassment. They use a combination of automation and human moderators to identify and respond to harassment.

"For a lot of people, this is no man's land," Forte said. "It can feel like the platform is doing nothing, the police are not doing much, lawyers are expensive and the publicity that legal action generates can be negative.

"The best solution we have, if the culprit can be identified, is to approach their boss at the company. We are not saying that a company is responsible for the behavior but will be able to decide the most appropriate way to deal with it, which may offer support rather than discipline," added Forte. .

However, in this case, the company is not officially responsible for this behavior. "But there are ways to do it yourself online," Forte said.

Forte advocates, such as Rik Ferguson, of Trend Micro, say many companies have anti-bullying policies but they tend to focus on internal behavior. Companies applying to the scheme are required to commit to seven principles, including:

1. Protect the identity of the person reporting the harassment, to the extent possible

2. Create a public reporting line and discuss it with employees

3. Not "ignoring" any form of harassment

"If you knew your organization had made that commitment, you might think twice about doing it," said Ferguson. "We need to take action."

However this scheme does not cover abuse sent from anonymously created accounts. Because in an anonymous condition it is very difficult to track who the real sender is.