Updated Charity Commission guidance on social media

Exceptional guidance for exceptional media

The guidance stands-out as the only example of its kind specific to a communication medium. In many contexts, that means it needs to be read in conjunction with relevant thematic guidance. Where campaigning or fundraising are concerned, it stands in addition to that guidance on those topics, not in its stead.

Exceptionally, social media needs its own guidance because of its own particular risks which the Commission describes:

Its fast pace can increase the risk of posting content that is inappropriate or harmful
Content, once posted, can be hard to undo
Professional and personal lives can overlap and the line can become blurred.

Emotive topics carry their own risks and warrant their own dedicated section.

The importance of a policy

The Commission places great emphasis in its work on the importance of developing policies to give staff and trustees a framework to deal with issues. Social media is no exception. "If your charity uses social media," the Commission says, "you should have a social media policy."

Much of the guidance is framed in terms of what the policy should include and achieve. The policy has a role in ensuring social media use helps the charity to achieve its purposes in its best interests.

The policy needs to:

Contain the governance process for accountability and control
Cover compliance with legal requirements (some of which the guidance signposts)
Guide what to do if something goes wrong.

Trustees, staff and volunteers' own social media

But it is not just the charity's own social media which is covered by the guidance. It also covers use of personal social media by trustees, employees and volunteers. The risk of personal content reflecting on charity is greatest in the case of leaders - or anyone who shares their association with the charity. Whist the Commission is not asking charities to monitor personal social media accounts, it expects charities to set and communicate guidelines for personal social media and consequences for breaching them.

The 2026 update

The main change has been to alert charities to the Online Safety Act 2023. This places duties on providers of social media platforms and search engines to keep people safe online. The Commission warns that charities which operate online forums in particular may be subject duties under the Act, since it regulates platforms which allow users to interact. Precisely what is regulated and what is not is nuanced and subject to exemptions. Charities should make sure they understand what online services they provide and whether they are regulated under the Act. Ofcom, the online regulator has guidance and a tool to help decide if you are regulated.

Whilst a charity's management of its own social media account on some other provider's regulated platform is unlikely to be covered (the wording of the Act is as yet, untested), in the shadow of the Act, the Commission adds the expectation that a social media policy should cover moderation of comments and keeping people safe online. Charities should identify what tools are available respect of each social media account they have and develop a policy to guide them in identifying and dealing with inappropriate or illegal content posted to their pages by third parties.

The Online Safety Act duties and beyond - a language for keeping people safe

Stepping beyond the Commission's guidance, it is useful for all charities that use social media to have a sense of what the duties are, not just those whose own forums or search tools are directly regulated. These duties will cascade down through compliance requirements and standards in platform terms and conditions. In time, they will likely come to frame discussion and expectation around standards for moderating and managing online content. In very broad terms (since they are specified in detail at length by the Act), the main duties are:

In respect of illegal content:

To carry out and keep up-to-date a risk assessment for illegal content

To take proportionate measures to prevent individuals from encountering illegal content, to mitigate and manage the risk of harm and to minimise the time illegal content is present.

If likely to be accessed by children:

To carry out and to keep up to date a risk assessment of children encountering harmful material taking into account different age groups

To take proportional measures and operate proportionate processes to prevent and mitigate the risk and impact of harm (which may include age verification)

To include how children are prevented or protected from encountering harmful content in terms and conditions.

To enable people to report illegal content or content harmful to children and to have a procedure for complaints.

Larger platforms will also have duties to enable users to increase control over content they encounter and duties aimed to protect news, journalism and the free expression of material of democratic importance.

The duties, although they may not apply directly to the operation of a social media presence, nevertheless offer a framework by which to start unpacking how and why to use moderation tools.

Conclusion

Charities which use social media should adopt a social media policy as a priority if they haven't already. Those which do have a policy should review it, particularly around moderation of third party comments in light of the Commission's guidance and the tone set by Online Safety Act 2023 duties. Charities who are themselves providers of services directly subject to the statutory duties will need to recognise that fact and ensure compliance.