Social Media Checks: Everything You Need to Know

EBC Global’s social media checks deliver a detailed overview of an individual’s online presence, enabling employers and organisations to make well-informed decisions with confidence.

This guide addresses common questions about EBC Global’s social media checks, offering insights into their purpose, application, and value in modern hiring practices.

What is a Social Media Check?

A social media check is one of a new breed of crucial background screening tools used to help employers and organisations make safer recruitment decisions.

Social media checks offer insights into a candidate’s online behaviour and activities to identify potential risks and ensure the individual aligns with the company’s values and standards.

Quality varies significantly from supplier to supplier; however, effective social media checks review an individual’s online presence across all social media platforms, revealing information about a candidate’s character, behaviour, and potential red flags.

This type of check is frequently used by employers and organisations to make informed decisions about individuals, ensuring they are aware of any relevant issues that could impact the workplace.

Already widely mandated and/or recommended by many industry regulators, social media checks search the internet to identify an individual’s social media profiles and highlight any negative activity, posts, and comments.

EBC Global’s social media checks provide comprehensive coverage of major social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and more.

Our social media screening process typically analyse a variety of content types, including:

• Written and re-shared posts: These can provide insights into the individual’s opinions, attitudes, and interactions with others.
• Video content: Videos posted and shared by the individual can be analysed to reveal more about their behaviour and identify interests in specific areas of risk.
• Image analysis: Photos posted or re-shared by an individual can offer additional insight into their beliefs, interests, associations, and lifestyle even when no words are used.
• Comments and interactions: These can highlight how the individual engages with others online, including any potentially inappropriate or harmful behaviour. Trolling, bullying, hate speak, and discrimination are crucial indicators of how an individual could behave in the workplace too.
• Group memberships and follows: These can indicate the individual’s interests, affiliations, in potential risk categories.

Social media screening look specifically for areas of risk to employers. They do not return information that is not relevant for the purpose intended.

Why Should Employers Include Social Media Screening in Their Screening Programme?

Employers should include social media checks in their screening programme to ensure they are making informed hiring decisions. The media is constantly reporting on stories about people losing their jobs due to things they have posted online, not just recently but things from many years ago can come back and haunt them.

People and organisations can be targeted to look for this kind of information to cause embarrassment or harm to individuals or to competitors, or just journalists looking to find a story.

By including social media checks in their screening programme, employers can protect their reputation and ensure they are hiring individuals who align with their values and standards and pose no identifiable risk to their organisation.

There’s no longer any excuse for only finding out what unacceptable content is on an employee’s publicly available social media account when it makes headlines in the media.

What Information Does a Social Media Check Reveal?

EBC Global’s social media screening discloses information about an individual’s publicly available online activities, including posts, comments, and re-shares on social media platforms. It can reveal potential red flags that may not align with the company’s values.

Social media checks identify content specifically related to extreme views/opinions, aggressive behaviour, discriminatory language, inappropriate/undesirable subject matter, illegal activities, potential addiction or substance abuse, and sexually-explicit content.

Reports identify adverse findings in any language, covering text, images, and video content from various social media platforms. Additionally, EBC Global’s social media checks report on positive findings, including fundraising, volunteering, and charity work.

By examining these various types of content, social media checks can help employers identify potential risks and make more informed hiring decisions. It is important to stress that social media checks can only reveal public information, not content that is protected or locked behind security settings.

However, note that if somebody other than the individual shares content publicly, even if their own settings prevent anyone other than friends from viewing their content, it would still enter the public domain.

What do Social Media Check Reports Look Like?

Click here to see the full sample report.

How Do I Apply for a Social Media Check?

All that is required is some basic personal details and consent from the individual being screened. After the check is completed, a notification will be sent to the person who requested the check. The results will be available to view in the EBC platform (or in your ATS/HR system if our background checks have been integrated).

Frequently Asked Questions

How Are Social Media Checks Conducted?

EBC Global’s social media checks are conducted using AI and machine learning to find social media accounts that would be undetectable to most HR teams.

Only a full name and three pieces of personal information (personal mobile phone number, personal email address, and a third detail such as address, current employer, or an academic credential) are required to run the checks.

If any results found cannot be triangulated back to the individual, those results cannot be included in the report.

Social media checks vary from supplier to supplier, however our checks don’t require candidates to provide their handles or login details or even tell employers which social media platforms they have been active on. The technology we use is capable of detecting the accounts provided, and those that aren’t provided too.

Crucially, two expert human analysts review every single report with flagged content to determine what is able to be included in the social media check reports before results are returned.

How Far Back Does a Social Media Screening Go?

Social media checks typically review an individual’s online presence over several years. The default stance at EBC global is to check all available social media content, as those looking to do harm would not care how long ago the content was posted. This approach also protects employees from losing their jobs when old posts resurface.

However, the timeframe can vary depending on the employer’s requirements and the specific context of the check. In some regions, such as the US, content is typically capped at 7 years due to legal and regulatory guidelines. However, in most countries, there are currently no such limitations.

This approach allows for a more comprehensive review of an individual’s social media history, while our flexibility ensures that employers can tailor the checks to their specific needs and compliance requirements.

Can an Individual Apply for a Social Media Screen for Themselves?

Not via EBC Global. There may be other providers where this is possible, but EBC Global does not currently offer this service directly to individuals.

Can Employers Request Social Media Screening for All Job Positions?

Yes, employers can request social media screening for all job positions. Social media checks are effective for detecting risks across defined risk categories that would be of interest to most, if not all, employers.

They provide insights into potential risks such as inappropriate behaviour, discriminatory language, illegal activities, and other content that may not align with the company’s values.

What if the Social Media Screen Reveals No Social Media Accounts?

If the check reveals no social media accounts, it could mean several things. The individual might not have any social media presence, they might use different names or aliases online, or their accounts could be set to private and not easily discoverable.

Employers should consider the context of the role and the individual’s overall background. In some cases, a lack of social media presence might be seen as a positive, indicating a preference for privacy.

However, it could also mean that the individual is deliberately hiding their online activities. It could mean that the individual has provided a new personal email address and/or a burner phone bought for the sole purpose of preventing their online accounts being identified.

Employers should use this information in conjunction with other background checks and interviews to make a well-rounded decision.

What is the Difference Between a Social Media Screening and Other Background Checks?

A social media check specifically focuses on an individual’s online social media presence and activities. Meanwhile other background checks may include criminal records, employment history, and education verification. Social media checks are typically used as part of a comprehensive background screening policy, rather than used in isolation.

Are Social Media Checks Country-Specific or Global?

EBC Global’s social media checks are language agnostic and able to interpret and report on content in any language. This means they can be both country-specific and global, depending on the employer’s requirements and the candidate’s online presence.

How Long is a Social Media Check Valid?

A social media screen is only valid at the point in time the results are returned. The individual could post something on social media a minute later that you wouldn’t know about until you check again, same as any other background check.

Why are Social Media Checks So Effective as a Background Screening Tool?

Social media screening is without doubt the most effective background tool in the vetting and screening arsenal these days. They provide valuable insights about undesirable personality traits, behaviour, illegal activities, extreme views, and more.

Employment references often lack the detailed information employers need to make informed hiring decisions, as many fear potential litigation. Filtering rules have reduced the value of criminal record checks for employers by hiding certain offences and convictions from certificates to support offender rehabilitation.

Social media screening has become an essential part of pre-employment and staff vetting programs, helping employers identify and manage risks effectively.

Can Social Media Screening be Conducted on Current Employees?

Yes, some sectors already mandate checks on current employees. For example, in the UK legal sector, law firms are required to monitor the social media of their employees to protect the reputation of the profession.

How Long Does it Take to Process a Social Media Check?

Results are typically available within 2 days. Usually, the longer they take, the more there is for expert human analysts to consider for inclusion or filtering from reports in line with GDPR / DPA.

Is Social Media Screening Legal?

In most countries, including the UK, social media checks are legal and accepted when they comply with privacy and anti-discrimination laws.

Employers should avoid invading a candidate’s privacy or discriminating based on protected characteristics. Using a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) helps document the justification for including social media checks in pre-employment screening and staff vetting.

Outsourcing social media checks to professional screeners reduces legal risks. HR teams or hiring managers conducting in-house checks can easily violate regulations without intending to.

Firms conducting their own checks may fail to comply with laws. In contrast, professional screeners follow legal requirements and best practices, ensuring checks are fair, objective, and lawful.

Outsourcing social media checks minimises privacy and discrimination risks while providing a reliable and compliant screening process.

Additional Resources

Chartered Institute of Legal Executives – CILEX members warned about social media use at SGM: ‘Code of conduct applies 24/7’

Social Media Background Checks: Indeed’s Guide

Social Media Screening: Pros, Cons, and Tips

Find out why a Social Media Check is essential for your hiring process