Social Media & Adverse Media Checks: Seeing the Hiring Risks

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Summary

Online behaviour affects professional reputation and suitability for roles.
Social media checks spot red flags like hate speech or unethical conduct in a person’s own online activity. Adverse media checks scan global news sources for criminal or regulatory issues.
These checks support compliance, safety, and brand protection across sectors.
A blended approach using AI and human analysis ensures accuracy and efficiency.
Rechecking every 2–3 years is recommended.
Outsourcing checks saves time and ensures objectivity. Adverse media checks offer very strong value with their low cost.

Why do social media and adverse media checks matter for your business?

Background checks will have been essential due diligence in your recruitment process from day one of operations. Getting the thumbs up on a potential candidate from a trusted source, as well as checking they’ve not dabbled in anything unethical or criminal, is as obvious and common as asking for their date of birth or qualifications. However, making these checks offline is now only part of the story, as our physical and digital worlds continue to become inseparable.

How a potential candidate or new business partner acts online can have real-world consequences on your company’s security and safeguarding measures. Not to mention you could be risking operational resilience, reputational damage, and customer trust.

Understanding media checks

The internet is a key pillar in how we communicate and share and consume information, both on a local and global level. Given the unstoppable deluge of digital media and instant 24/7 access to news, what candidates contribute within this space – and what exists about them, created by other people – simply cannot go unchecked by your HR teams. This goes for your partner companies and existing employees too. In fact, 88% of employers say they would consider firing employees over inappropriate online content.

But who determines the boundaries of ‘appropriate’ and why does it matter? While it may seem that a candidate’s online persona is distinct from their professional self, employers – and regulators – are increasingly viewing online behaviour as a reflection of character and judgement, which can affect their suitability for a role. This goes hand in hand with compliance, which should already be the key driver of your recruitment process. Governing bodies, such as Ofgem and Ofcom, have already mandated media checks within their suitability and integrity assessments for those applying for managerial and financial roles, and these regulatory requirements have started to extend beyond the C-suite.

Interestingly, some industries have seen reluctance in adopting media checks, with many companies hesitant to be the first to undertake them. If budgets are small and resources are stretched, it is understandable that some organisations may wait to see how their competitors fare before spending time and money on them. There are also a number of ethical privacy concerns that have caused companies to pause before diving into a candidate’s Facebook profile.

However, checks don’t have to be all-consuming. In fact, they can be outsourced quickly and cost effectively. The result being an unbiased, efficient, and trustworthy assessment of a candidate that adheres to data protection laws and regulatory requirements.

Key takeaway

The more we share online, the more our digital presence shapes our professional reputation. This makes social media and adverse media checks a vital part of the recruitment process, helping to maintain regulatory compliance, operational resilience, and brand reputation.

What are social media checks?

Definition:

Social media checks are a form of background screening that review a person’s publicly available online activity to identify behaviour that may signal risk for an organisation. They help support safer hiring, protect brand integrity, and compliance by assessing how an individual’s online behaviour may impact the workplace.

As of February 2025, 64% of the world’s population use social media, and every post, comment, share, and like helps to paint a picture of who someone is. This makes social media checks a key part of standard recruitment checks to help give you insight into that candidate’s personality and how they’re likely to behave within your workplace.

Red flags to look for include:

Hate speech or discriminatory language, such as racism or sexism.
Illegal and unethical activities, such as theft or fraud.
Links to violent or extremist groups.
Privacy and reputational issues, such as disclosure of confidential information about another person or company.
Threatening, abusive, or violent behaviour, such as bullying or harassment.
Unprofessional conduct, such as sexually explicit material or excessive alcohol or drug use.

Where to check?

Blogs, vlogs, and forums, such as YouTube and Reddit.
Social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and TikTok.

What are adverse media checks?

Definition:

Adverse media checks review publicly available news and information to identify negative reports about an individual or organisation. These checks scan global media sources for signs of criminal activity, regulatory issues, financial misconduct, or other behaviour that may present risk.

Also known as adverse news or negative news checks, they can provide invaluable contextual information about a person’s history, conduct, and behaviour, and are often essential requirements when employing people in high-ranking positions.

Adverse media checks cover any publicly available information and have a far-reaching scope, as they typically search a candidate’s name against over 45,000 global news feeds dating back to 1971. There are no set guidelines on exactly what should be looked at within this check, however, companies should take their own operational standards, ethics, and industry’s boundaries to set appropriate parameters.

Red flags to look for include:

Civil litigation, owing to something like financial misconduct.
Corporate malpractice, such as involvement unethical labour practices.
Criminal activity, such as bribery or tax evasion.
Regulatory violations, such as investigations, penalties, or fines from bodies like HMRC.

Where to check?

Court and government records, such as official government publications and legal filings.
General search engines, such as Google, Bing, or Safari.
News sources, including international, national, and local news.

Benefits of media checks

Ensure regulatory compliance

Media checks are a valuable part of due diligence for every industry and help companies meet sector-specific regulations by verifying a candidate’s identity and providing deeper insights into their background. There is no one-size-fits-all guideline or framework in what should be included within a media check, but governing bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Ofcom, or Care Quality Commission can provide industry-specific guidance.

Evaluate workplace fit

Viewing a candidate through their social media output can help provide a more rounded picture of who they are and whether they would be a good fit for your company culture. In fact, 65% of organisations used social media screening to assess candidate cultural fit. This also helps show existing employees that you value their wellbeing, safety, and security, as employees who feel comfortable around their colleagues are more likely to create solid and productive relationships at work.

Identify security, safety, and safeguarding risks

Adverse media checks help companies manage risk by identifying individuals who could pose safety or reputational risks. This is particularly important for roles involving vulnerable groups or who have access to sensitive systems and locations, such as those in telecommunications and utilities. By flagging any history of financial crime, fraud, or unethical behaviour, these checks can act as an early warning system to prevent harm or misconduct within your business.

Protect brand reputation

Not all negative media involves illegal activity, but it still could pose a reputational risk. For example, if a new hire has publicly supported or shared discriminatory views on social media, you could be attaching your brand to scandal or serious legal issues. More than this, claiming you didn’t know about a hire’s online past won’t cut it these days, so it’s important to give this area an extensive check for your PR team’s sake.

Key takeaway

Media checks aren’t just a no-brainer in helping you remain compliant with industry regulations and avoid costly legal fines, they can also ensure your brand steers clear of any potential PR damage.

Checks within specific industries

Every business, no matter its size, shape, or sector benefits from these checks. However, there are several industries in which they are non-negotiable.

Charities

Regulators such as the Charity Commission expect trustees to manage financial crime risks effectively. Media checks can help satisfy this and ensure ethical decision-making, which is particularly important when accepting large donations or entering into a high-profile partnership. If that wasn’t enough of a reason, it’s been proven that charities who are transparent with donors about their finances receive larger future contributions than those who are more guarded with this information.

Education and childcare

Adverse media checks are mandated by the Department of Education and form a crucial part of the safeguarding standards set by Ofsted, as they are essential in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students. With 65% of parents citing student wellbeing as their top priority when choosing a secondary school, these checks play a vital role in protecting pupils and upholding high standards for staff.

Financial institutions

Both checks are particularly important for financial institutions as they can help support compliance with regulatory frameworks such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) set by the FCA. Essentially these checks both play a part in preventing crimes such as money laundering, fraud, or terrorism financing, which in turn helps reduce the risk of your company facing large fines, legal action, or reputational damage.

Health and social care

These checks are particularly important for those working with children, patients, and vulnerable adults, especially as 1,200 NHS employees have already been disciplined for inappropriate online behaviours, including breaching confidentiality and complaining about colleagues. In light of this, NHS England now requires its organisations to adhere to the Fit and Proper Persons Test Framework when recruiting executive and non-executive directors; employees with a ‘director’ title; and any interim and permanent directors of more than six weeks.

How the checks work

Both social media and adverse checks can be manual or automated. However, we recommend a blended approach that utilises the efficiency benefits of automated tools with a human’s emotional intelligence for contextually analysing content.

While the guidelines and specifics of a check differ from sector-to-sector and business-to-business, there are a few fundamental steps required:

1. Collect your data

Collect all the necessary data and information you require about a potential candidate or business partner from your selected sources, such as Facebook or LinkedIn.

2. Interpret and analyse the data

Review and interpret the data you’ve collected. Human analysis is essential here in order to understand the true meaning and context of the content.

3. Compare the data against your risk threshold

Analyse any red flags against your organisation’s agreed framework and tolerance for risk. You can use parameters such as information accuracy, timeliness, and the potential impact it could have on your business.

4. Agree on next steps

Depending on the severity of a risk, you may decide to continue with the candidate or partnership but under increased monitoring, or you could choose to end the hiring process with them entirely.

Best practices for conducting checks

Don’t forget those rechecks

Media checks aren’t a one-shot-and-its-done kind of thing. Life happens, people change and circumstances may lead to new adverse content. It’s why we recommend undertaking rechecks every two to three years.

Consistency matters

Your business should set and share clear guidelines and policies around social media from the get-go, so you have a benchmark to work from when performing checks. With all staff on the same page and following regulation, your checking processes should feel more straightforward. Remember, this isn’t just a HR issue. It’s a company-wide risk management one.

Be objective, be innovative

Working with a third-party to undertake your checks can help eliminate any unconscious bias you may have. It’s also worth remembering that these checks allow you to identify certain candidate characteristics outside of the usual background checks, so think outside of the box for their application. For example, they could be useful in assessing whether your hire will fit in with the company culture.

Key takeaway

The foundation for what and where you check should be inspired by your industry’s regulation requirements, company’s culture, and business needs.

Using AI in media checks

Colossal amounts of digital content gets created and evolves every single second, meaning your checks are going to cover huge volumes of information. And that’s not even accounting for the vast amount of content already uploaded online. Because of this, companies are increasingly relying on AI to help with their media checks.

There’s no doubt that AI is a powerful tool in being able to sift through large amounts of data at speed. The efficiency is clear. However, in order to truly comprehend all the complex communication, evolving contexts, and cultural nuances on display, human understanding and analysis needs to be applied alongside AI.

Key takeaway

AI can help you create an efficient checking process but human analysis is also needed to interpret complex content. Together, AI and human analysis can ensure your checks keep pace with overwhelming content volumes, while retaining depth and compliance quality.

We can help

Outsourcing your media checks isn’t just efficient and cost effective, but we can help you remove the time and resource pressures on your HR teams.

We use screening and online behaviour evaluation tools to objectively assess a candidate’s social media and any check adverse media. You’ll then receive an easy-to-interpret report that highlights the potential risk that candidate could bring to your company.

Here are a few more reasons why our clients choose our background checks:

Robust data security and trust. Our regulated status and data handling practices ensure peace of mind when it comes to the security and proper use of personal information.
Long-standing, trusted reputation. We’re UK-based and have over 25 years in the business.
Tailored packages. Your adverse media checks can be added as a standalone service or included as part of wider checks. Whether you need one or 100,000 checks, we can grow and scale with your needs.
Competitively priced. Our adverse media checks start from £10 per check.
Flexible integration. Our open API and partnerships with applicant tracking systems like Iris and Employ allow for flexible integration.
Support from the experts. You’ll receive support from dedicated account managers and subject matter experts who understand the checks your industry needs. You can also chat with us over live chat, email, and phone.
AI efficiency with a human touch. We blend the power of AI with the emotional intelligence of human moderators to thoroughly interpret findings at scale.
Customised reports. The findings are delivered via a portal as a downloadable, easy-to-interpret report.