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First, let's confirm the definition of compliance. Compliance is translated as "compliance with laws and regulations", but in addition to complying with laws such as the Antimonopoly Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, compliance in a company also includes adhering to the "employment rules" established by the company and maintaining a healthy business activity from an ethical and moral perspective, which also includes following "common sense and rules in society".

●Why Corporate Compliance is Important

Recently, compliance of companies has been emphasized in various situations, and one of the reasons behind this is the series of corporate scandals that have occurred in the past. From the 1990s to the 2000s, there were many scandals such as recall cover-ups by automobile manufacturers, food fraud at major food companies, and fraudulent accounting by multiple companies. Corporate scandals ultimately harm consumers, leading to a decline in the company's brand power and even jeopardizing its survival. In addition, companies that violate compliance may also face the risk of losing talented employees and being unable to hire new ones.

On the other hand, companies that firmly adhere to compliance can expect an increase in corporate value, gaining trust from customers and business partners, securing excellent employees, and improving performance. In today's highly competitive business environment, not only the quality of products and services, but also the establishment and compliance of compliance are crucial factors that can greatly impact a company's future and are highly valued.

●Examples of Compliance Violations

There are various cases of compliance violations in companies. Specifically, we have summarized the specific actions below.

‹Examples of Corporate Compliance Violations›
・Taking out business data such as sales information and personal information
・Leaking personal information
・Leaking internal information, insider trading
・Inappropriate remarks or posts on social media
・Harassment such as power harassment or sexual harassment
・Inappropriate overtime work (resulting in employee mental illness or death from overwork)
・Falsifying financial statements, tax evasion, tampering with information
・Violating laws such as business laws and prize labeling laws
・Unpaid or underpaid salaries and wages
・Hygiene management mistakes, falsification of origin or performance
・Employment discrimination
・Unauthorized use of company supplies and facilities
・Copyright infringement

To prevent such compliance violations and ensure thorough compliance, many companies are implementing and building internal control systems. However, while it is possible to check for misconduct within the company, it is almost impossible to monitor personal SNS accounts of employees and related parties. Therefore, compliance measures for SNS are a major challenge for companies.

SNS stands for "Social Networking Service", which refers to a service that allows for social interaction on the internet. With the widespread use of smartphones, the number of SNS users has exploded and now anyone can easily share information. However, behind this convenience, SNS also carries many risks.

‹The Dangers of Social Media›
・Unexpected slip of the tongue or dissemination of unreliable information
・Information shared can quickly spread
・Shared information can remain on the internet
・Risk of privacy being identified
・Potential for confidential information leakage or account takeover

What if employees were to make insensitive comments that show a lack of awareness of the dangers of social media and consideration for social norms and common sense? In such a case, the company could face a fatal crisis triggered by social media, and receive criticism and slander from many people. In short, there is a risk of "going viral" through social media. Examples of posts that are prone to causing a viral backlash include:

‹Content that is prone to causing a firestorm on SNS›
・Unexpected slip of the tongue due to prejudice or preconceptions
・Unreasonable behavior that goes against social norms
・Exposure (whistleblowing) by employees or company officials
・Leakage of personal information of oneself or others
・Discriminatory expressions
・Touching on sensitive topics such as politics, religion, and gender

In addition, there are cases where employees mistakenly post from their personal accounts instead of their corporate accounts (known as "accidental explosions") and incidents of impersonation by third parties, as well as customer complaints, can also cause a firestorm. So, how does a firestorm occur from the initial post? Let's take a look at the sequence of events.

Due to the nature of SNS, the speed of the spread of a firestorm is very fast, and the first firestorm may occur within a few days to a week after posting. In addition, there are often cases where companies are slow to notice the firestorm during this time, and there are also situations where the investigation of the facts of the trouble cannot keep up. In such cases, delays in initial response or incorrect responses can also lead to a reverse reaction from users, and may even lead to further "fueling the firestorm".
>>Compliance measures to be taken by companies <Case Study 2>

Let's take a look at past examples of social media-related companies that have actually experienced a crisis. The examples have been organized by the cause of the crisis.

● Cases that have caused a firestorm due to information leaks

(CASE.1) Posting Personal Information of Visitors
A family member of an employee at a financial institution posted on social media that they were told the address of a famous person who visited the financial institution. This caused a backlash, with the name of the financial institution being identified. The financial institution was forced to take measures such as posting an apology on their official website and social media. As a result of this backlash, the stock price plummeted, resulting in a loss of several hundred million yen in market capitalization.

(CASE.2) Posting Confidential Information
An employee working at a car manufacturer's factory discovered an unreleased car on the factory premises and posted pictures of it on social media. As a result, it caused a backlash. Due to the leakage of confidential information by the employee, the car manufacturer received criticism for its management system and suffered a decline in brand image.

● Cases that caused a firestorm due to thoughtless posts

(CASE.1) Inconsiderate Tweet on the Day of the Atomic Bombing
The official Twitter account of a certain theme park posted "Congratulations on an ordinary day". This was a Japanese translation of a line from the theme song in the movie "Alice in Wonderland", but it received criticism due to the fact that the day it was posted was August 9th, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The theme park apologized for the inappropriate comment and deleted the tweet, acknowledging that they did not consider the timing of their post.

(CASE.2) Criticism of post content using "corporate slave"
The official Twitter account of a real estate information site posted a tweet using "corporate slave" as a joke and caused an uproar. Many users criticized the harsh post content, which said, "According to corporate slaves, they call overtime 'second party' ♪ It seems really fun when you say that, right? (excerpt)."

● Cases where inappropriate posts caused a backlash

(CASE.1) Inappropriate video by employees spreads
An employee of a nationwide restaurant chain intentionally filmed themselves throwing away food in the trash and then cooking it again, and posted the video on social media. The video quickly went viral and caused a major backlash. As a result, the operating company suffered losses of tens of billions of yen in market capitalization.

(CASE.2) Development of a fire from user feedback
In a SNS promotion plan for supplements provided by a beauty-related company, there were voices pointing out that the expressions used were in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law. In addition, multiple posts that could be considered in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations were discovered, leading to a fire. Subsequently, the beauty-related company issued an apology and announced suggestions for future measures.

(CASE.3) Criticism Focused on Inappropriate Post Content
A major discount shop posted a sentence with the hashtag "#HaveYouEverStolenAt●●(store name)?" on their official SNS, causing controversy. Other hashtags such as "#ThisIsAGreatContest" and "#ShopliftingIsACrime" were attached, so it could be assumed that the post was seeking submissions for a contest, but it ended up receiving criticism for being inappropriate.

● Cases that have caused a firestorm due to internal whistleblowing or external complaints

(CASE.1) Internal Whistleblowing Posted by Employee's Family
The family of an employee working for a certain company heard about the dissatisfaction the employee had with the company and posted it on social media. The post received a lot of sympathy from users and the company was bombarded with criticism from users, leading to a frenzy of responses. As a result, the company's image was tarnished and they suffered losses of hundreds of millions of yen in market capitalization.

(CASE.2) Closure due to foreign matter contamination incident
A problem was revealed due to a tweet from a consumer who purchased cup noodles with foreign matter (insects) mixed in. The situation escalated as a result of the initial response mishandling by the responsible person at the food manufacturer who produced the product. After announcing the suspension of production and sales for all products, the food manufacturer was forced to close down.

(CASE.3) Pointing out an invalid campaign plan
A user pointed out that a confectionery manufacturer's campaign plan using SNS only selected accounts with a large number of followers, causing a backlash. After conducting an investigation and issuing an apology, it was announced that a re-drawing would be conducted for all applicants, including past campaigns.

● Cases that caused a firestorm due to impersonation or "friendly fire"

(CASE.1)
The official Twitter account of a travel agency caused an uproar by sending a comment saying "ugly" to a certain artist. Along with the sympathy for the artist, there has been a flood of criticism towards the company, leading to the uproar. The travel agency has announced that the cause is unknown, but it is suspected that there may have been impersonation or the person in charge made a "mistake".

As you can see from the examples we introduced, the careless remarks and actions of a single employee can often spread through social media and lead to irreversible situations. It is important for companies to view individual issues as company issues and to thoroughly enforce compliance, including the use of personal SNS.

Now, let's explain specifically what measures should be taken to prevent a social media firestorm.

‹Measures to prevent SNS backlash›

●Establish SNS guidelines and policies
By establishing SNS guidelines and policies within the company, employees can be expected to have a better understanding of the prohibited activities and important points to keep in mind when using SNS. These guidelines, also known as "social media policies," are becoming increasingly common for companies to publicly share their contents.

●Monitor SNS posts
Establishing a system to monitor SNS posts is an effective way to prevent online backlash by quickly checking for inappropriate posts related to our company. If monitoring becomes too burdensome, utilizing an external monitoring service is also an option.

● Conduct regular SNS risk training
It is important to educate all employees on "corporate perspective SNS risks" such as the dangers of SNS and the losses that companies may incur when a fire occurs, rather than personal use.

In addition, basic actions such as not posting information that can identify individuals, setting the scope of disclosure, and asking yourself again if the information is suitable for worldwide dissemination before pressing the post button can help avoid a firestorm.

However, even if you can prevent some degree of backlash, you cannot eliminate the risk completely. In the event of a backlash, it is expected that mistakes in initial response will create further problems, so it is important to decide on a response method beforehand and act calmly. As examples of response methods, the following are considered good:
・Confirming the facts
・Establishing a policy (maintaining consistency in response)
・Sincerely apologizing if the company is at fault

To prevent a social media backlash and comply with regulations, it can be said that "regular in-house training" is important. In particular, social media, which is often used by individuals, requires each employee to strengthen their awareness of social media risks and fully understand the compliance set by the company.

One suggestion we would like to propose is learning through e-learning materials. By utilizing mobile devices, you can learn at your own pace without being constrained by time or location, making effective use of your time. In addition, in the rapidly evolving field of IT, it is important to constantly stay updated on the latest information, such as through social media networks. In this regard, e-learning makes it easy to update compared to traditional paper materials, allowing you to obtain fresh and up-to-date information.
>>Compliance Measures in Corporations: Case Study 2

Human Science's e-learning materials "Compliance Measures in Corporations: Basic Knowledge" covers the basic knowledge of compliance in general. Through learning, we support understanding the importance of compliance and taking conscious actions on a daily basis. In addition, by learning together with "Compliance Measures in Corporations: Practical Edition" where you can learn practical knowledge in more specific scenes, you can expect a deeper understanding and retention.
In our materials, we regularly review and update the content, and add new courses. By the end of the year, a new course including SNS measures will be added, allowing for a wider range of learning. In addition, it is possible to customize the content to better match the actual situation of each company based on customer requests.

In today's rapidly advancing information society, laws and morals related to compliance, including SNS measures, are expected to be updated in line with the trend. In order to raise employee awareness and avoid unexpected troubles, it is recommended to conduct regular in-house training through e-learning and acquire the latest knowledge.

>>Related: Information Security Fundamentals Course - Information Security for Computers and Smartphones