Publicity, Media, & Social Media

Who needs policies relating to Publicity, Media, & Social Media?

Any organization that has a public presence needs policies on publicity, media, and social media. That covers almost everyone, from small nonprofits with a single spokesperson to global companies with entire communications teams. With social media blurring the line between personal and professional, the risk of mixed messages or accidental oversharing is higher than ever.

Clear policies help employees know when to speak, when to pause, and when to hand things off to the communications team. If your employees talk about their work or your brand in public, you need these policies. They keep your messaging consistent and protect the trust you have worked hard to build.

The exhaustive history behind Publicity, Media, & Social Media

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Jurisdictions with laws on Publicity, Media, & Social Media

Laws that interact with publicity, media, and social media policies are meant to protect privacy, prevent misleading claims, and keep employers from overstepping when it comes to employee speech. They balance freedom of expression with the need to protect reputations, intellectual property, and personal rights.

At the federal level, you've got:

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laws, which regulate truth in advertising and endorsement disclosures, which affect how companies and even employees can talk about their services and products.
• The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects certain types of employee speech.
• Various whistleblower protections within many statutes enforced by OSHA.

States often add privacy laws, restrictions on employer access to employee social media accounts, or rules around using someone's name or likeness in publicity. Local jurisdictions occasionally regulate too.

As you can see, these rules are not confined to one level of government. Organizations need to keep an eye on federal, state, and sometimes even city laws when creating media and social media policies.