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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 1 July 2017
Trump’s crude tweets: Would anyone else be fired?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY nizing a union. But she said policy reads, “You are re-
AP Technology Writer that if “you take to Twitter sponsible for your actions.
NEW YORK (AP) — If Presi- to call your boss a ‘psycho’ We encourage you to get
dent Donald Trump were or say that your CEO has a online and have fun, but
anyone else, he’d be fired, ‘low I.Q.’ that could abso- use sound judgment and
or at least reprimanded, lutely get you fired.” common sense.” The com-
for his latest tweets at- That applies even to chief puter chip maker Intel also
tacking a female TV host, executives. trusts employees to use
social media and work- “Any good outside crisis their own judgment.
place experts say. And if adviser would tell the com- “What do our policies
he were to look for a job, pany’s board that they mean? They mean that
the experts say, these and have no choice but to we trust you,” the guide-
past tweets would raise terminate the CEO,” said lines state. “We bring smart
red flags for companies Kara Alaimo, a public re- people into the Intel fam-
doing social media back- lations professor at Hofstra ily and we expect you to
ground checks, an increas- University in Hempstead, In this Wednesday, June 28, 2017, file photo, President Donald make smart decisions.”
ingly common practice New York. “Today, more Trump speaks during an energy roundtable with tribal, state But as Sacco, Hubbuch
and local leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in
as tweets and Facebook than ever before, citizens Washington. and Salem learned, with
posts become a daily, expect companies to es- Associated Press trust comes responsibility
sometimes hourly part of pouse and uphold values.” and if you tweet first and
our lives. Of course, Trump PLENTY OF EXAMPLES think later, you could face
is anything but typical. In 2013, Justine Sacco, a Semitic posts, including a supervisors, suppliers, com- dire consequences.
Still, experts say it’s a mis- 30-year-old public-relations tweet that said “kill some petitors and others may TWITTER’S SIDE
take to think that because executive for the internet Jews.” Nancy Salem had have access to your posts,” Even before Thursday’s
the president is getting company IAC, tweeted, also retweeted: “How General Motors’ policy tweets, there have been
away with calling a man “Going to Africa. Hope I many Jews died in the Ho- states. “Offensive or inap- calls for Twitter to ban
“Psycho Joe” and saying don’t get AIDS. Just kid- locaust? Not enough!” ac- propriate remarks are as Trump from the service. The
a woman was “bleeding ding. I’m white!” Though cording to a news report at out-of-place online as they company’s policies pro-
badly from a face-lift” and it was on a personal ac- the time. Salem later apol- are offline. Use the same hibit harassment, inciting
had “low I.Q.,” regular peo- count with only 170 follow- ogized. set of standards as you do harassment and “hateful
ple would get away with it, ers, the tweet quickly went BROAD RANGE OF POLI- in the physical workplace.” conduct.” But there is a lot
too. “Mr. Trump would be viral. She didn’t learn she CIES Government agencies of wiggle room as to what
fired for his tweets of today, had become a top “trend- What happens when work- such as the General Ser- constitutes such behav-
and nearly every day,” ing topic” — not in a good ers send out crude, hateful vices Administration pro- ior. While Twitter doesn’t
said Mike Driehorst, a social way — as her phone was or offensive tweets — es- hibit “engaging in vulgar comment on individual
media expert at the mar- off during an 11-hour flight pecially if they fall in a gray or abusive language, per- accounts, CEO Jack Dors-
keting agency Weaving to South Africa. She was area — can depend on sonal attacks of any kind, ey told NBC that it’s “really
Influence. “Most compa- fired, of course. Earlier this where they work. or offensive terms targeting important to hear directly
nies have a thin skin when year, the New York Post Many policies encourage individuals or groups.” The from leadership” to hold
it comes to public criticism fired football writer Bart common sense, such as White House didn’t respond people accountable and
and media reports.” Hubbuch for comparing refraining from posting pri- to requests for comment. have conversations out
Nannina Angioni, an em- the president’s inaugura- vate company information Coca Cola’s policy, mean- in the open, not behind
ployment attorney at the tion to the 9/11 attacks. or speaking on behalf of while, doesn’t spell out closed doors. Trump has
Los Angeles-based law He has since deleted the the company unless autho- that employees shouldn’t also given Twitter a popu-
firm Kaedian, said certain tweet and apologized. rized. Hate speech and of- harass others or post racist larity boost, even if that
speech is protected, such A month later, a preschool fensive comments are also rants, yet such topics can hasn’t exactly translated,
as posts about a work- teacher in Texas lost her frowned upon. be construed as falling un- at least not yet, to revenue
place grievance or orga- job over a series of anti- “Customers, colleagues, der “common sense.” The growth. q
Germany passes law against online hate speech

By FRANK JORDANS a week, including defama- nal complaints.
Associated Press tory “fake news.” Maas claimed that 14
BERLIN (AP) — German “Freedom of speech ends months of discussion with
lawmakers approved a bill where the criminal law be- major social media com-
on Friday aimed at crack- gins,” said Justice Minister panies had made no
ing down on hate speech Heiko Maas, who was the significant progress. Last
on social networks, which driving force behind the week, lawmakers from his
critics say could have dras- bill. Maas said official fig- Social Democratic Party
tic consequences for free ures showed the number and Chancellor Angela
speech online. of hate crimes in Germany Merkel’s center-right Union
The measure approved is increased by over 300 per- bloc agreed a number of
designed to enforce the cent in the last two years. amendments to give com-
country’s existing limits Social media platforms panies more time to check
on speech, including the such as Facebook, Google whether posts that are
long-standing ban on Holo- and Twitter have become flagged to them are illegal,
caust denial. Among other a battleground for angry delegate the vetting pro-
things, it would fine social debates about Germany’s cess to a third party and
networking sites up to 50 recent influx of more than In this April 5,. 2017 file photo German Justice Minister Heiko ensure that users whose
million euros ($56 million) if 1 million refugees, with au- Maas attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in comments are removed
they persistently fail to re- thorities struggling to keep Berlin, Germany. can appeal the decision.
move illegal content within up with the flood of crimi- Associated Press q