Adverse media. It has taken on a whole new meaning in this day and age, and it can affect not only people trying to get a job but the companies that are deciding who to hire for these jobs.
There are about 4.62 billion people across the world that have social media accounts. That is over half of the world’s population.
With so many people revealing another side of themselves to the public, companies may be put at risk by their image. So, it is becoming more and more crucial for them to conduct a media screening of potential employees.
What is the adverse media meaning? Why is it important for companies to run a media check on potential employees?
Read on for your guide.
What Is Adverse Media?
Adverse media is any form of media that is available to the public. The most notable thing in this category can be social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.
However, it is not limited to just that. There are checks against the global sanctions database that allow access to all news sources involving a particular person.
It can also be anonymous blogs or forum posts that can potentially be discovered by someone. It can also be any general public knowledge of illegal activities that come from something like a background check that the person in question has been a part of.
What to Look For in Social Media Accounts
When it comes to adverse media, you are essentially screening potential employees to see if they can avoid a negative media check. Part of that entails looking through those social media accounts to see if any red flags come up from that person.
If you are new to this process, you are probably wondering what constitutes a red flag. Well, one of the top answers to this is if the person publicly associates with any known hate groups. Sometimes, it can be enough if the person publicly shares posts on a repeated basis from one of those hate groups.
Another example can be if someone has posted any kind of hate speech on their social media account. This can be a post that uses a word that is offensive and insensitive to any marginalised group or it can simply be a post that is very inoffensive to a very fragile situation.
However, it does not always have to be that extreme to spark a red flag for a company. Sometimes, it is simply the conduct and the way a person expresses themselves on social media that can be enough for a company to have some concerns about that person representing their image.
An example of this would be if that person ends up consistently using curse words in their social media posts. That can result in someone thinking they cannot market to families or coming off the wrong way in a professional setting.
Another scenario that can pop up is if they have questionable pictures of activities on social media such as drinking a large amount of alcohol in one video or even showing the use of a potentially illegal drug like marijuana.
Adverse Media in Banking
When it comes to banking, it can be even more important to conduct these media screenings because then you are involving people that are potentially handling large amounts of money.
There are a few known phrases in this category when it comes to adverse media. Those phrases are adverse media AML (Anti-Money Laundering), adverse media screening FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), and adverse media KYC (Know Your Customer).
The first phrase basically encourages media checks to ensure that potential employees and even potential clients are not going to be involved in money laundering.
KYC is the actual process of doing an onboarding check for a potential client before taking them on as an official client. What that means is the organisation has to conduct a background check of that client to ensure that the money that they are bringing in is coming from legitimate sources.
Relying on Third Parties for Adverse Media
Now, there are plenty of good reasons above for companies to do a media check on any potential employee or client that they are considering bringing on board.
However, it is not always legal to go about this directly. Depending on what country you are from, you may find that the potential employee’s rights on social media are somewhat protected. With that in mind, you may not have the legal justification for not hiring someone because they post too many swear words or too many pictures or videos involving alcohol.
So, how can you get around that? The answer is by using a third-party source to do those media screenings for you.
Credence has a wealth of experience in this field. We can provide you with the information you need to decide whether a person is a good fit for your organisation.
This can get you out of serious potential legal trouble and give you a much better idea of who you are about to go into business with.
Hire a Reliable Company for Media Screening
Now that you have a better idea of why media screening is so vital, it is time for you to start to get more involved and have a reliable company by your side to give you the adverse media checks that you need.
If you have the right partner by your side, it can make your employment and client screening process go a lot smoother.
Are you ready to get started? Request a quote from us today.