Social media | Was Alastair Stewart's resignation fair?

The use of social media is a key part of life for many Brits; from using Facebook to check into their favourite restaurants, to uploading a picture that looks almost professional to Instagram, most are guilty of sharing a great deal via these public platforms.

In fact, research shared by Statista in February 2020 revealed that at the beginning of 2017, the total number of social media users in the UK had reached over 39million users, with estimates going up to 42million.

With so many individuals using the platforms, do users ever stop to think about how conduct online may impact employment? Agreeing with a post with a simple like may trigger the beginning of a misconduct procedure, for example, if the post could be deemed offensive.

This is something former ITV news host Alastair Stewart was faced with. In January this year, the journalist stepped down from his position after he was accused of writing a tweet that referred to a black man as an ‘ape’. Following the incident, ITN bosses revealed that his use of social media ‘breached’ editorial guidelines and noted ‘errors of judgement in Alastair’s use of social media’.