Social right. In our “global village”, you have to have a good reputation. But never have so few people mastering social networks been able to cause so much damage to a high-profile company. Can an employer then prohibit its employees from using them?
Let us first set aside the mandatory rules emanating from the public authorities. After many countries (Canada, United States, United Kingdom) and the institutions of the European Union (EU), now prohibiting their officials from installing TikTok, with its 1.7 billion subscribers, on the instruments professionals, the French government followed for civil servants on Friday 24 March. Many defense companies legitimately do the same.
But beyond possible political manipulations, in terms of espionage, or even compromat [en russe, dossier compromettant], Is TikTok really more dangerous than LinkedIn, where executives in very sensitive positions, not open-minded but alas gaping, exchange with strangers under the most diverse pretexts, allowing among other things the installation of software malicious? Economic intelligence is also a culture.
In the banking sector, certain professional communications must be legally kept for probative reasons: the employer can therefore exclude the use of instant messaging and other private WhatsApp loops.
But in the traditional private sector? Owner of the professional tools and legitimately obsessed with computer security, the employer can, under his management power, prohibit the installation and, if necessary, the use of certain risky networks. By mentioning it in the rules of procedure, but also by avoiding any list, so as not to become techno-captive, and to limit oneself to the use of certain technologies only.
Prevention is better than punishment
Two limits. The ban cannot target the employee’s personal laptop, a fortiori using an external connection; but can exclude any automatic synchronization with professional accounts.
In addition, many companies are very ambivalent with regard to social networks with hundreds of millions of subscribers, which have become essential instruments of their marketing, including social (for example, at the level of recruitment). Some even ask their employees to retweet or re-share the information of colleagues or their “ambassadors”, these employees encouraged to promote the “employer brand”. For educational purposes, the “charters” have therefore multiplied to remind them of the basic rules: confidentiality, downloads, photographs, names of colleagues, etc.
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