In today’s digital age, social media has become a powerful tool for self-expression, communication, and even conflict resolution. However, when it comes to legal agreements, particularly non-disparagement clauses, what you post online could have serious repercussions. Whether you’re navigating a workplace dispute, or ending a business partnership, understanding how non-disparagement agreements intersect with your social media presence is crucial.
Non-disparagement agreements are basically contracts to not say bad stuff about another person or business entity. They fall under the umbrella term/category “restrictive covenants,” such as non-compete agreements, non-solicitations, etc. I like to refer to them all as the “non-agreements.” Some people call these a “gag order,” although that’s technically wrong–orders are issued by judges, and agreements are binding contracts made between two or more people or businesses.
Not to go too deep on this, but human beings are a social species, so our reputations are of the utmost importance. If someone with a good reputation gives you a bad one, that can have dramatic effects on your social standing, and thereby, the money you make, your mental health, your loved ones, etc., so it makes sense that we would have special agreements to effectively not say bad things about one another.
Today, this is of even more importance, though, given the predominance of social media in society, and the necessity for businesses to maintain a positive reputation for their company and brands.
To put it succinctly, non-disparagement agreements are necessary anytime two people (or businesses) have had a falling out, or any situation where one could say bad things about the other publicly. Common examples of this are customers bad-mouthing brands on social media for the brand’s political stance, employees saying bad things about their prior employers, and ex-spouses saying negative things about the other to mutual friends and family members.
Overall, these agreements are necessary when there is confidential or private information, or a situation that is nuanced and would require a great deal of explanation for third parties to understand, and one or both parties to the agreement care greatly about their reputation(s).
Yes, the fact that the vast majority of people are on social media means that negative statements made on these platforms can have instantaneous and severe negative impacts on a business’s reputation.
Before social media, there really weren’t a lot of venues to “post a negative review,” and the ones that we had, would only be read by a limited group of people, if at all. Maybe someone has a bad experience at a coffee shop and writes an editorial about it. The only potential readers of that editorial, though, have to pay for the newspaper, probably live in a limited geographic area, and are probably in a certain age range. Further, that editorial would probably be screened out, first, to make sure that the reviewer did, in fact, go to the coffee shop and legitimately had a bad experience there.
Contrast that to current social media, where someone from anywhere can post a negative review that can be instantly read by hundreds of thousands of people if not millions! And this can all happen even if the reviewer never transacted with the business! I mean, these days it could just be an AI-generated negative review from an AI bot made by a competitor, looking to take over market share!
The short of it is: that including non-disparagement provisions in your contracts (between employers and employees, all commercial agreements, and even customer contracts such as waiver forms) can make or break a company’s reputation. If you’re interested in speaking with our legal team about options, give us a call!
