BLOG: The Legal Risks of Corporate Blogs

By Philip Gray on Aug 28, 08 12:18 PM

I have been blogging, or, more accurately blawging, for over six months now and have really enjoyed being able to share my thoughts on the law and being a trainee solicitor on the Legal Week site.

Blogging is becoming ever more popular as the tradition media struggles to retain viewers/readers and many people seek their news and editorial comment in the instant electronic online world where information is free and available in enormous magnitude. Yet much online content, including most blogs, is unedited, or, not subject to approval from the website publisher or ISP.

The growth in corporate blogging indicates the number of potential opportunities this new tool offers. IBM alone currently has 3,000 bloggers. Yet the reason for bloging's popularity also explains why lawyers are so concerned about the associated serious legal risks.

Benefits of blogging include; improved marketing, branding and PR and, perhaps of most importance, they humanize a company, allowing employee's personality to emerge in an informal setting. The key to successful corporate blogging is spontaneity. To do this a degree of freedom must be conceded to bloggers.

But in this informal setting lurks danger. Defamation is perhaps one of the greatest risks of corporate blogging, especially where authors are given a free reign. As recent litigation has shown, in an attempt to be, 'off-the-cuff', bloggers have crossed the line, and opinion can become defamatory. This can be costly for the employer and employee.
The risk to employers is that they will be responsible for such statements. Even if the employee isn't writing "on behalf of the company", the fact that the blog is published on the company website, renders an employer liable for defamation.
To safeguard against this risk, a company should adopt a Blog Policy to:

• Limit the number of bloggers
• Remind bloggers that they are representatives of the company
• List topics that could potentially offend readers and provide guidance on material and content
• Regularly check blogs for offensive or defamatory material

By doing this bloggers will be allowed the necessary freedom, but at the same time the risk of a defamation claim against the company will be minimized.

Philip Gray

Kirwans