Companies should have a social media policy. Not only does it protect the company, it informs employees about the rules that could get them fired.
However, a situation unfolding in the US involving an Apple employee and Apple, feels like an overreach on the part of the company.
Last week Paris Campbell posted a rather innocuous video responding to another TikTok user. The user in question was receiving threatening emails demanding they remove a stolen iPhone from their Apple ID or their information would be sold on the black market. For their part, Campbell provided some rather good advice, they highlighted that until the user removed the iPhone from their Apple ID, the handset was useless to the emailer and they more than likely didn’t have the user’s information.
You can watch Campbell’s video below.
@stopitparis #stitch with @Stella ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
As we said, innocuous but that’s good information for iPhone owners.
The trouble is that 24 hours after posting the video, Campbell’s manager contacted her requesting the video be talking down. Should she opt not to take it down she’d be subject to disciplinary action “up to and including termination”.
However, when she then asked what would happen if she left the video up, the manager reportedly walked the statement back and said he’d contact her back. As of 18 hours ago, the manager had still not informed her whether she would be terminated or not.
This situation is bizarre. As Campbell pointed out in a follow up video posted at the weekend, nothing she highlighted wasn’t already public knowledge.
“After reviewing the social media policies nowhere does it say I can’t identify myself as an Apple employee publicly, just that I shouldn’t do so in a way that makes the company look bad,” Campbell said.
As The Verge points out, Apple doesn’t restrict employees from talking about its technology so long as it isn’t confidential information.
“We want you to be yourself, but you should also be respectful in posts, tweets, and other online communications,” an internal document reportedly reads.
One possibility we’ve seen raised is that this isn’t Apple’s decision but rather the manager making a bad call. Apple has yet to respond but we feel it has to say something now given how this story has blown up.
While it’s not uncommon for companies to fire employees over content they post on social media, this is usually pre-empted by a controversy of some sort. From our perspective Campbell has done nothing wrong and firing her for helping customers feels like a massive misstep if Apple pulls that trigger.
