Ethical Dilemmas in Social Media Use in Public Safety

Introduction

Today, public safety administrators at all levels are routinely confronted with complex ethical dilemmas that demand more than a casual analysis and response. Moreover, the types of ethical dilemmas that confront many public safety administrators have expanded to include issues that did not even exist a few years ago — most especially those involving the use of social media platforms. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the ethical issues that may confront public safety administrators, suggested training in response to these trends, and the identification of relevant stakeholders. In addition, the paper provides an implementation plan and process, followed by a draft code of ethics to help guide public safety practitioners. Finally, a summary of the research and key findings concerning the ethical dilemmas involved in social media use in public safety administration are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

Although the following review and analysis of the issues involved in social media use in public safety administration is not exhaustive, it does represent some of the more salient problems that practitioners are likely to encounter when confronted with ethical dilemmas caused by the proliferation of social media platforms. There are a wide array of factors that must be taken into account when the public disclosure of private information is involved. Citizens of the United States have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy, as well as other legal protections, and growing numbers of Americans are concerned about increased violations of their privacy by the government, businesses, and even private individuals who have no right to their personal information.

The rapid growth of social media platforms has made it increasingly difficult for public safety practitioners to formulate timely and informed guidelines for their use. In this regard, Sheer (2015) emphasizes that "the popularity of a new platform may spread overnight. So it may be difficult for administrators to keep up with the latest social media app, but it is imperative to understand a number of legal issues that apply to social media in general" (p. 7). This advice is timely and relevant to public safety administration, yet far too few practitioners may fully comprehend the legal issues applicable to social media platforms that would provide the basis for optimal social media use guidelines.

At present, a majority of states do not have legal requirements in place for government authorities to develop guidelines for social media use, but a growing number have determined that such guidelines are necessary. Efforts are underway to draft and implement policies congruent with certain principles, including the protection of privacy rights (Sheer, 2015). Notwithstanding this growing recognition, there remains a profound lack of universally applicable guidelines that are most appropriate for each state and community (Sheer, 2015).

Nevertheless, there is a continuing need for some type of overarching guidelines concerning social media use by public safety administrators to avoid violations of privacy rights. For instance, Sheer (2015) notes that "state law and community standards differ around the country, so what may be acceptable in one jurisdiction may not work in another" (p. 8). It is important to note that, in their efforts to develop and implement effective guidelines concerning social media use, public safety administrators must also take into account the constitutional right to free speech, violations of which will also have significant implications for government authorities. As Sheer (2015) concludes, "while different communities may have different philosophies on acceptable social media usage, districts must remember not to implement an overly restrictive policy that creates unintended legal liabilities" (p. 9). In essence, this observation represents a significant ethical dilemma for public safety administrators who want to ensure that stakeholders' legal Fourth Amendment rights to privacy are protected while also ensuring that First Amendment rights to free speech are upheld in view of prevailing community standards.

Developing and implementing appropriate standards and guidelines for social media use therefore requires an examination and understanding of the other types of violations that may result in unintended outcomes, including legal actions by individual citizens and advocacy groups (Nye, 2011). Consequently, the failure on the part of public safety administrators to confront this ethical dilemma head-on has serious civil and even criminal implications. As Nye (2011) points out: "Violating the rules of professional conduct is a deviation from the standard of care, and persons and entities who feel themselves injured or damaged by reason thereof may resort to civil lawsuits for money damages and injunctive relief, as well as prosecution of criminal complaints" (p. 15).

In other words, the failure of public safety administrators to carefully weigh the relative importance of all relevant legal issues, stakeholders, and prevailing community standards — and to formulate effective guidelines for social media use — is tantamount to violating the rules of professional conduct. In the past, these types of failures were not associated with guidelines involving online practices, but the explosive growth in social media platforms has focused increased attention on these needs. Moreover, Nye (2011) stresses that "online deviation of a practice standard is as serious a deviation as in any other context" (p. 16).

Considering prevailing community standards and responding to the foregoing ethical dilemma will also require taking into account the unique aspects of Fourth Amendment rights when online postings and social media platforms are involved, including the private right to privacy. For example, Nye (2011) emphasizes that:

Except by due process of law, government cannot infringe on the individual's rights to seclusion, control over his or her body, personal information, or control of children. The trend, however, is to consider any Internet posting of one's private information as a waiver of the right of privacy with regard to the information publicly disclosed. (p. 15)

A concomitant of this trend toward regarding online postings of personal information as a waiver of the right to privacy is the need to account for prevailing community standards concerning interpretations of the private right to privacy. Nye (2011) reports that, in contrast to the Fourth Amendment's protections of privacy from the government, the private right of privacy is applicable to other people and commercial enterprises. The personal right to privacy affords Americans several protections. In sum, American citizens have a right:

Similar to Fourth Amendment privacy protections, individuals who post personal information on a social media platform are regarded as having waived their private right to privacy. However, it is important to note that the posting of another individual's personal information on these platforms is considered an actionable breach of privacy that can result in monetary damages being assessed (Nye, 2011).

Another type of privacy violation is the so-called "false light invasion of privacy," wherein personal information is disclosed to others who have no legitimate right to it, placing the affected individuals in a "false light" in the eyes of the general public (Nye, 2011). These types of privacy violations are especially troubling for government authorities, including public safety administrators, since individuals using hacked social media accounts, anonymous postings, and fake news in social media platforms are notoriously difficult to trace — yet the damage to affected individuals has already been done.

Moreover, the presumed waiver of the right to privacy when posting personal information online cannot be applied to children and adolescents in the same wholesale fashion as it is applied to adults. These demographic groups are members of populations particularly vulnerable to exploitation and cyberbullying (Wright, 2018). Further, these vulnerable populations are among the heaviest users of social media platforms (Wright, 2018), thereby exacerbating the already complex ethical dilemma involved in formulating appropriate and effective social media use guidelines for public safety administration. Indeed, according to Wright (2018), "the most recent statistics on adolescents' social networking use indicate that about 71% of American adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 use social media, making it one of the most popular online tools for this population" (p. 113).

Here again, there is a need for public safety administrators to consider prevailing community standards concerning what constitutes adequate protection for these vulnerable populations when developing guidelines for social media use. In this regard, DePaulis (2015) concludes that "cyberbullying prevention and intervention strategies would benefit from an ecological perspective that looks beyond individual characteristics to consider peer, family, community, and societal contexts as well" (p. 16). Taken together, the foregoing trends and laws combine to create a complex array of challenges, and the environment continues to change and evolve. Consequently, besides developing an appropriate code of ethics for social media use, public safety administrators must also recommend appropriate training for affected stakeholders, as discussed further below.

Suggested Training and Stakeholder Identification

At a minimum, training for public safety administration staff should include an overview of the legal protections of personal privacy described above and how they are affected when online postings of personal information on social media platforms are involved. In addition, an up-to-date code of ethics that can serve as a guide when staff members are confronted with ethical dilemmas should be included in any training initiative. As noted above, however, the legal and technological landscapes continue to evolve in light of increased social media use, making it paramount to update training protocols on a regular basis. It will also be important to identify affected stakeholders as an essential component of the training process.

Besides public safety administration staff members and affiliated government agencies, the two other primary categories of stakeholders are adults, adolescents, and children who are constituents of the jurisdiction involved. In addition, third parties such as vendors that do business with the jurisdiction and consumer advocacy groups may also be regarded as stakeholders, depending on the jurisdiction.

Conclusion

The ethical dilemmas that routinely confront public safety administrators have been amplified and complicated by the use of social media platforms by stakeholders, including both public safety administration staff and their constituents. In sum, the goal of public safety administration practitioners to protect the public can be adversely affected when privacy violations occur. The research was consistent in showing that even the most well-intentioned guidelines may be inadequate to protect administrators from serious civil actions and even criminal prosecutions if they fail to ensure that adequate legal and ethical protections are in place. Moreover, the research was also consistent in showing that the legal and ethical landscape is dynamic, making continuous diligence to identify relevant changes in this landscape absolutely essential. The suggested training and draft code of ethics set forth above represent a useful starting point for this purpose.

References

Code of ethics. (2017). National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

DePaulis, K. (2015, Spring). Cyberbullying: Implications for social work assessment. School Social Work Journal, 39(2), 15–20.

Glaubinger, C. (2009, September 5). Examples database: Citizen participation. Nation's Cities Weekly, 28(36), 5.

Nye, S. G. (2011, July). Law and ethics: Social media issues. The Journal of Employee Assistance, 41(3), 14–19.

Sheer, B. (2015, January–February). Five ways to keep social media from being a legal headache. THE Journal, 42(1), 6–9.

Wright, M. (2018, January 1). Cyberbullying: Victimization through social networking sites and adjustment difficulties: The role of parental mediation. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(2), 113–119.