As national and global events continue to affect the lives of many of our students and staff, you may have seen upsetting and discriminatory online content.
Many of you will have seen upsetting and discriminatory online content that incites hate and violence. In addition, misinformation is becoming a growing issue across many sectors, including Higher Education. We wanted to share some useful information on how to identify and report social media posts and other content that seeks to spread misinformation, as well as some reminders on our internal processes for reporting concerns and complaints.
Identifying and reporting instances of misinformation
Misinformation is defined as “the inadvertent spread of false information” with disinformation being ‘the deliberate creation and spreading of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead people, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain.’ Always be sure to verify the credibility of news and social media content before sharing or reacting to it and approach information with a critical mindset; if something seems sensational or divisive, consider its potential origins.
If you come across any suspicious content, misleading campaigns, or misinformation at St George’s, please write to our team at cybersecurity@sgul.ac.uk with details of the post and source. Social media platforms also have reporting functions in place to report these instances.
In general, content that meets the requirements below should be reported:
- Hate speech (communication that is hateful, threatening, or abusive, and targets a person on account of disability, ethnic or national origin, nationality (including citizenship), race, religion, sexual orientation, or skin colour.
- Content that is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm to, or incite violence towards/abuse of, an individual or group.
- Content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes and certain highly deceptive manipulated media
- Information that has been fact checked by a reputable third party (e.g. government organisations, or organisations or individuals that are known experts in the relevant field) to demonstrate that the content is factually inaccurate.
- Posts where there is clear evidence of fake accounts, fraud and coordinated inauthentic behaviour.
- Content where there is clear evidence of images or media that are significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated
- Where there is clear evidence of false or misleading context surrounding the source, location, time, or authenticity of the media
Please also refer to the policies of the platform where the content has been shared on social media, such as the Meta or X policies. For content that has been shared on Unitu, please see the Unitu content policy.
Seeking social media support
For general guidance and social media support, staff and students can visit the social media pages on our website, which includes general tips and best practice for using social media at our university, as well as where to turn if you need help.
Raising other concerns and complaints
We maintain a zero-tolerance policy on harassment and discrimination of all forms, and anything reported is taken seriously.
Reporting concerns as a student
The Report and Support tool is available for students who wish to raise complaints informally. However, students who wish for an incident to be investigated via a formal process, should follow our student concerns and complaints procedure.
We always work to manage complaints confidentially and sensitively. Anything raised via either the Report and Support tool, or the Student Concerns and Complaints Procedure, can be done anonymously. Complaints are also handled completely separately from any academic activity, and reporting a complaint will have no impact on academic progress.
Reporting concerns as a staff member
Staff who would like to raise a concern can visit the guidance and support pages here. These highlight the dignity at work policy, which explains how and with whom staff can have an informal conversation about any concerns, the Grievance procedure, which explains how staff can raise a formal complaint and the Whistleblowing and public interest disclosure policy.
Staff and students are encouraged to use any of the channels of support we recently highlighted and to raise any concerns they may have.