Experts have criticised the new Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) social media policy for being too restrictive. 

DPS now requires a manager’s sign-off before any workers can post work-related content to social media. 

The changes were after the DPS was pursued for liability in legal proceedings involving social media posts made by an employee.

“The policy was amended following legal proceedings in which the department was named as the second respondent for vicariously liability for copyright infringement and defamation,” a spokesperson told reporters this week.

DPS allegedly consulted with employees and relevant unions, including the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), before updating the policy. 

Still, Andrew Hughes, a management lecturer at ANU’s College of Business & Economics, says the new policy could mean public servants are less likely to blow the whistle.

“If you’ve got questions about power, questions about career path, it’s really threatening in a way because of that reason,” he said.  

“It’s not as though it’s been examined by a committee who may be more impartial, independent, or look at it from the perspective of what may hurt the organisation itself directly. 

“It gets into: who’s going to challenge their boss? And who does challenge their boss on something like that?”