The advent of social media has increased avenues of communication from the public to companies and to high-profile individuals. The dark side of this availability is that it can lead to targeted harassment, sometimes of individual employees of companies.

A person who feels disgruntled toward a company may try to identify the professional or personal social media accounts of that company’s employees or executives, rather than the company’s general social media handle, in an effort to target those individuals.

A company whose executives or employees are being doxxed or harassed online may ask its attorneys for recommendations on how to respond. A client’s legal options can vary, but here are some options to consider if a corporate client needs to protect its employees from harassment.

Consider Sending a Cease-and-Desist Letter or Filing Suit

If a client’s individual employees are being harassed on social media, serving a cease-and-desist letter to the offending party might be helpful, especially as a precursor to litigation or other additional action. One factor to consider with this approach, however, is the potential risk that the letter could get posted online or even further antagonize the aggressor.

Depending on the nature of the offending conduct, the client may consider filing a lawsuit against the poster for defamation or harassment or something similar. There may be options for injunctive relief or even for damages, depending on the nature of the comments and whether they were posted publicly or directed to the employees.

In advising their clients, lawyers can consider whether the harasser has crossed the line beyond just being a nuisance. It may also be helpful to consider the actual reach of the harasser’s posts, whether the harasser is threatening employees and whether filing suit could bring more attention to the matter for the public. Indeed, the offending party may have a small social media following, but bringing a lawsuit could subject the company to more attention from the original individual and the public as a whole.

For example, if a poster is targeting a company’s employees and raising incredulous allegations about a company’s involvement in a vast conspiracy, filing a lawsuit could simply make those baseless allegations more known to the public. Then, instead of simply dismissing a rogue anonymous poster’s unsupported remarks, the company may find it has to defend against those allegations in the public mind.

This is an example of the Barbra Streisand effect, named after the singer filed suit against a photographer for violating her privacy when he posted photos online documenting erosion of the California coastline. Streisand filed suit because her home was featured in the photo, and she did not want the public to know where she lived.

Prior to Streisand’s filing suit, the photo had only been downloaded six times (two of which were by her attorneys). After the lawsuit was filed, it drew significant attention and press, and the website hosting the photo was visited by more than 420,000 users.

Thus, even if the corporate client wants to take action against an online poster, there can be risk of somehow legitimizing an illegitimate issue by bringing attention to it. Lawyers can also consider whether a lawsuit is worth the cost of litigation and the disclosure of information in discovery.

Review Social Media Platform’s Guidelines for Possible Violations

Many social media platforms have guidelines that govern posts and interactions. Consumers who post content or engage on social media platforms typically must consent to those guidelines, which can help provide a framework for addressing online harassment.

Depending on the content of the posts or engagements, the lawyer or client may be able to report the content as a violation of the platform’s guidelines. If the posts violate the law or target private individuals to harass them, the platform may be obligated to remove them. Reports of improper posts are typically confidential, which means that the poster is not supposed to be notified as to who reported their harassment.

Monitoring and reporting posts can require vigilance, which can be quite time-consuming. However, it can be worth it to establish a record of enforcing rights online when a poster violates community guidelines, particularly if it discourages other bad actors from following suit.

Consider Involving Law Enforcement

If the conduct at issue is criminal, such as if the poster is identifying an employee’s personal or confidential information or is threatening violence, it may be appropriate to report the harassment to the relevant police force. The client may also consider involving law enforcement if the harasser is posting an employee’s private photos, locations or other information that could be used to continue the harassment “in real life.”

Although agencies can provide helpful guidance, sometimes law enforcement has few options available to them, especially if the targeting is only occurring online. This is especially true when the poster and the targeted individuals live in separate states. Still, this may be an important option to consider if the conduct places individuals in danger.

Consider Adopting a Media Plan

For those posts that are annoying or irritating – but do not appear to pose a real risk of harm to individuals — the client may consider adopting an internal media plan. A plan could designate a team of individuals to respond to these incidents when employees are harassed on social media and then detail the policy and procedures to follow.

Having such a policy might help prepare the client for these incidents before they arise and assure its employees that there are steps in place if they fall victim to online harassment.