An Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Joint Committee on Transport and Communications recently published a Report: Addressing the Growth of Social Media and Tackling Cyberbullying, following a period of research and consultation.

Amongst eight key recommendations, the Report emphasises that employers should be made aware of just how important it is to have a social media policy in place. Specifically, the Committee recommends that such a policy should define cyberbullying and set out the consequences of a policy breach – cognisant of the fact that some forms of cyberbullying fall under the criminal offence of harassment.

This is a further reminder that employers can no longer view social media policies as dispensable, a point we emphasised in our recent Report on Social Media.

Contributed by Catherine O’Flynn.