Social media has become integral to the way billions of people interact with each other. With social media becoming such an important part of many people’s lives, it is not surprising that it has also influenced the world of recruitment, with HR professionals using social media background checks for their hiring and screening needs.
A survey conducted by The Harris Poll found that 70% of companies use social media to research potential job candidates. Among those, most carry out screening internally, meaning someone within the company actively reviews their candidates’ social media profiles rather than relying on an external provider.
Are Social Media Checks Compliant?
While many hiring teams may conduct social media screenings on their own, numerous compliance issues can arise when this process is not adequately conducted. Foremost among these problems is the risk of claims of discrimination and personal bias. Reviewing a candidate’s social media profiles often provides a deeper insight into their personality and background.
Unfortunately, social media background screening can reinforce these biases if not conducted appropriately. Even well-intentioned hiring teams may struggle to remain objective when presented with personal details unrelated to a candidate’s professional skills, expertise, or potential.
Furthermore, legal claims may assert that viewing certain content, even with internal rules and guidelines in place, employers are more likely to hire individuals and will base their decisions on things such as:
- Race
- Colour
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
- Age
- Gender Identity
- Physical or Mental disability, and more.
In Australia, these were laid out in the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) and are illegal to discriminate against. If a candidate can prove that one of their attributes influenced a decision not to hire them, the candidate may bring an action against the employer under the FW Act. Similarly, Singapore passed a Workplace Fairness Act (WFA) on 8 January 2025, in an effort to strengthen fair and respectful workplaces, providing protection towards the employees from discrimination based on protected characteristics.
At First Advantage, we recognise how these risks can impact not just hiring decisions, but internal culture and compliance as well, which is why many organisations choose to outsource their background screening. Our approach mitigates these types of bias claims by removing personal familiarity from the process. Social media screening reports focus purely on factors that could affect the workplace, such as inappropriate conduct, online behaviour, or reputational risks, and by reviewing publicly available information across social media, news platforms, and online forums.
The Growing Importance of Social Media Screening
While there are risks associated with conducting social media screening in-house, many HR leaders worldwide are using social channels (both formally and informally), to assess potential candidates. In fact, our First Advantage’s 2025 Global Trends Report, which provides a view on the state of hiring, indicates that social media searches surged by 47% over the last two years in the financial and business services. Meanwhile, healthcare rose 456% from a relatively low baseline in 2022. This rapid growth reflects the increasing importance placed on understanding candidates beyond their employment history and educational background.
The report also highlights that 33% of surveyed customers in the Asia-Pacific region consider evaluating future risks to be the most important factor for their background screens, whilst 14% consider it to be brand protection.
Adding social media screening to these services can offer your organisation a more holistic view of a candidate. And for good reason, as these checks can provide vital information that helps employers mitigate the risk of an inadequate hire and identify inappropriate behaviors that do not align with a company’s culture. As a result, social media screening can help protect not just the brand and reputation of your business, but also your workforce as a whole.
Championing Trust and Compliance
Clearly conducting social media checks internally can offer hiring teams’ significant insights into the background of an applicant, but for many, this avenue may not be adequate and will carry additional legal risk if done in-house.
Looking ahead, HR teams will likely prefer to avoid the risks associated with conducting internal social media checks. Instead, many will choose to work with an independent third-party screening company to review publicly available online content, including social media and other online sources. This best practice will help them mitigate potential claims for misconduct such as viewing protected class details.
First Advantage Supports Smarter Social Media Checks
Social media screening is becoming a crucial part of the hiring process. Accordingly, it is crucial that HR teams stay up-to-date on the acceptable practices of these screening channels, including working with the right background screening company from the start, cultivating workplaces where trust and safety enable companies to grow with confidence. This allows the benefits of social media vetting to be leveraged while mitigating risk of harm to a business’s most important asset – its people.
What Appears in our Social Media Report?
- source platform for social media content;
- type of post;
- date of post’
- snippets of the contents of the article; and
- reason(s) the post was flagged.
When conducted correctly, social media reports are vital to establishing and maintaining a strong company culture and creating a foundation of trust and safety for your organisation.
For more background check tips, ideas, and strategies helping you hire smarter and onboard faster, contact First Advantage today: First Advantage APAC (fadv.com)
