Warning on use of social media content from Press Council

A recent decision by the Press Council of Ireland should act as a warning that journalists do not have free rein to use content posted to social media, a leading academic has warned.

The comments by Jane Suiter, Institute for Future Media and Journalism at Dublin City University, come following the Press Council’s findings against independent.ie over an article it ran on April 1.

The article, entitled ‘Irish woman reveals her struggles with postpartum psychosis after April Fool’s Day post causes major upset’, documented how a woman who had posted a poorly received image of a stork to a private Facebook group subsequently “opened up about her struggle with post-natal depression and psychosis”.

However, the Press Council found that the journalist who wrote the piece was a member of the Facebook group, and used the information the woman shared with members as the basis of their article, without first consulting the woman in question.

“The article gave the name of the woman’s child. It also identified what city she lived in and gave some very personal and intimate details of her mental health in the aftermath of the birth of her child,” the Press Council stated. “The article was accompanied by a wedding photograph of the woman with her husband.”

The Press Council found that the piece breached principle 3 of its code of practice — Fair Procedures and Honesty.

“At a minimum, in order to avoid breaching Principle 3, Independent.ie needed to contact the woman in advance of publication to seek her permission to include personal information in the article,” the council ruled.

Dr Suiter said the ruling “is a reminder that journalists may think social media content seems to be ‘in the public domain’ and so available for unrestricted re-use; the reality may be very different”.

“Using social media user- generated content, whether photos, videos, or written content, without permission is likely a breach of privacy/data protection law as well as other codes overseen by the press ombudsman, particularly if not demonstrably in the public interest,” said Dr Suiter. “Great care is always needed with commercial use of user-generated content.”

The article was also found to be in breach of Principle 5 of the code of practice — Privacy.

“Even allowing for the large size of the particular Facebook group, the article was a breach of Principle 5,” the Press Council said.

“Privacy considerations can be qualified if the matters being reported are on the public record or in the public interest.

“In this instance the publication of the information was decidedly not in the public interest. Except in exceptional circumstances, it is inconceivable that the publication without permission of personal information about a person’s mental health could be regarded as in the public interest.

“In addition, under Principle 5 there was no justification for the publication of a wedding photograph of the complainant and her husband.”

The article also breached Principle 9 of the code by revealing information about the complainant’s child.

The Press Council said that while “the response of Independent.ie to take down the article immediately it was made aware of the complaint, to approach Google to remove a reference to the article on Google and to apologise was appropriate and welcome”. it was “not sufficient to resolve the complaint”.