Social Media Monitoring Tightened

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) has issued new instructions to educational institutions to strengthen monitoring of compliance with government guidelines on the use of Facebook and other social media platforms.

Institutions have been asked to report whether their officers and employees have been informed about the government’s social media guidelines and what measures have been taken to monitor social media activity. The information must be submitted by September 25.

The directive was issued in a letter sent by DSHE on Thursday, September 17.

The letter referred to the ‘Guidelines on the Use of Social Media in Government Institutions, 2019 (Revised Version)’ issued by the Cabinet Division, as well as a related DSHE directive issued on August 17.

Under the earlier directive, members of the education community under DSHE were to be monitored to determine whether their social media activities complied with the government guidelines. If any activity contrary to the guidelines, objectionable or misleading content, or activity damaging the institution’s reputation was identified, the relevant monitoring committee’s convener was to be informed with supporting evidence.

DSHE has now sought details of the steps taken by the institutions to implement that directive.

Institutions have specifically been asked to provide information on two issues. First, they must state whether officers and employees have been informed about the government’s guidelines on social media use. Second, they must provide details of measures taken to monitor social media activities and forward relevant information to the monitoring committee.

The information must be sent by September 25 to the designated email address of the office of Professor Tipu Sultan, director of DSHE’s Monitoring and Evaluation Wing.

According to the DSHE directive, any activity on social media found to be contrary to government guidelines must be reported to the relevant monitoring committee with supporting evidence. Through the strengthened monitoring process, DSHE aims to reinforce compliance with government social media guidelines among officers and employees under the education administration.

//DBTech/SME/NPV/MSI//