Withers Responds To The Charity Commission Consultation On Its Draft Social Media Guidance

• Published date: 18 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Charities & Non-Profits , Social Media
• Law Firm: Withers LLP
• Author: Mr Chris Priestley, Hannah Brearley and Chloe Flascher

The Charity Commission published its draft social media guidance for charities in January, and launched a public consultation on the contents of the guidance which closed in mid-March.

The Commission explained that it has seen through its casework that some charity trustees have limited oversight of their charities' use of social media, particularly when compared to other aspects of their communication and engagement strategy. The aim of the new guidance is to help trustees improve understanding in this area and to help build trustee confidence, as well as to encourage charities to adopt a social media policy.

Having considered the guidance carefully, the Withers Charity and Philanthropy team has worked with our Media and Reputation Management team to respond to the Commission's consultation on the draft guidance. The key points from our response, submitted earlier this month, are set out below.

Level of oversight charity trustees are required to have over social media

The draft guidance is clear that charity trustees are required to have an oversight of not just the charity's own social media accounts, but the social media accounts of trustees, staff, and volunteers of the charity as well and the content posted by third-parties which may impact the charity's social media account(s). In our view, this is a wide-ranging and heavy burden for charity trustees, particularly when the personal accounts of staff, trustees, and volunteers are considered to be within the charity's remit (discussed further below).

The guidance gives clear examples of how trustees should proceed where illegal problematic content is shared. What is less clear is where the content is not illegal but otherwise inappropriate or problematic, and the draft guidance refers to trustees considering a balanced approach (ie, for when corrective statements may be required) but does not elaborate on this point, which does not provide trustees with sufficient clarity to determine how to proceed. There is concern that whether social media content is inappropriate / problematic is a subjective test, and the guidance does not currently provide enough information for trustees to be confident in such decision-making.

The guidance also suggests that if someone from outside the charity has posted problematic content on the charity's social media page / account, then charities should actively moderate content including considering moderating comments prior to publication (i.e. requiring approval of...