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Dell Technologies Global Social Media Policy
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Purpose and Scope
As the online landscape continues to evolve, the opportunities for Dell Technologies team members to communicate with customers, each other and the world are evolving. Social media creates opportunities to champion the Dell Technologies brands and for personal expression, but it also creates risks and responsibilities. You should assume that anything you do on social media – whether on a business or personal account – could be viewed by a colleague, supervisor, partner, supplier, competitor, investor, customer or potential customer. As such, any social media activity, even from your personal account, reflects on Dell Technologies and could have a global impact (positive or negative) on the Dell Technologies brand. The best thing to do is double check all content for accuracy and evaluate the potential impact before you post, share, comment or like. Your activity on social media reflects on Dell Technologies and can impact the work environment, and, subject to applicable law, will not be exempt from this policy just because it occurred on a personal account or as a Dell Technologies team member.
Related Policies and Consequence of Violations
As a Dell Technologies team member, you are expected to adhere to this policy on social media, including but not limited to X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, WeChat, YouTube, Flickr, Twitch, blogs, wikis or any other tool or service that facilitates interactions over the internet.
This policy supplements other Dell Technologies policies and standards, including the Dell Technologies Code of Conduct and Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy. If your post would violate a Dell Technologies policy in another forum, it will also violate it on social media. Team members who violate this or other Dell Technologies policies may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment in accordance with the local laws where you are employed.
Dell Technologies’ Five Social Media Principles
As a Dell Technologies team member, you are required to follow these five principles in all social media activity. You'll know these principles if you've already taken the SMAC 101 course from SMACU. You are required to take this and other SMACU courses if you engage in social media as part of your role or otherwise discuss our products, industry or competitors on social media, but we encourage all team members to take this training to learn more about social media best practices. If you have any questions about these principles, this policy, SMACU or social media in general, please email Social@dell.com
- Be Nice, Have Fun and Connect!
Consistent with our Code of Conduct, every Dell Technologies team member must be respectful to others when conducting business on behalf of Dell Technologies or when they identify or could be identified as a Dell Technologies employee. Remember, even when you are on a personal account, your social media activity could be seen by customers or potential customers, so you should treat every interaction on social media as if you are dealing with a potential customer. While we value employee privacy and a diversity of perspectives across our workforce, be careful with posting, sharing, commenting, liking or otherwise indicating support for or agreement with discussions on social media. Dell Technologies has zero tolerance for racism, bigotry, misogyny, express or implied threats of harassment or physical harm, or hate speech. “Hate speech” includes any speech – or endorsement or promotion of speech – that is derogatory toward a group of people based on a protected classification. This can include race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, caste, gender or disability. Hateful, violent, racist or bigoted concepts may be hidden in messaging. The fact that something is trending, popular or widespread does not make it acceptable under Dell policy. You are expected to know the meaning and importance of what you engage with on social media and how it could be received by others. For example, speech that dehumanizes, ridicules, or condones or promotes violence against a protected class of people is hate speech.
How you say something can matter as much as what you say. You should not bully, harass or threaten violence against anyone on or outside of social media. If you find yourself in a disagreement on social media, use a respectful tone or disengage.
- Protect Information
You are also prohibited from sharing customer or team member personally identifiable information on external social media sites. Every year, you take a course on how to protect customer and team member information. The same standards apply on social media. For example, if you engage with a customer about a complaint or order issue on social media, you should not include any identifying information about that person or their order (e.g., order number) in your posts. As a rule, you should never post personal information about someone else on social media without their permission. This could cause damage to that person, to your reputation and relationships, and to Dell Technologies, and could even result in lawsuits.
- Be Transparent and Disclose
When you talk about Dell Technologies on social media, you should disclose that you work for Dell Technologies. Your friends may know where you work, but their network of friends and colleagues may not, and you don't want to accidentally mislead someone. You should use the #Iwork4Dell hashtag in any post that discusses Dell Technologies. The disclosure needs to be in a place that is hard to miss, so simply having it in your bio, buried between two other hashtags, or in a place that requires the viewer to click or go somewhere else to see the disclosure is not enough. You should include the #IWork4Dell hashtag regardless of your privacy settings and adhere to any additional disclosure requirements under local law in your country.
- Follow the Law, Follow the Code of Conduct
To avoid violating trademark, copyright or publicity rights, do not post images or other content without the consent of those who own or appear in the media. When you quote others, be sure to credit them and, if appropriate, add a link. You are also personally responsible for complying with any terms of the social media platform you are using. These terms differ across platforms, and can include detailed community standards. You should familiarize yourself with the terms and standards for each platform you use.
- Be Responsible
Make sure you're engaging in social media conversations the right way. Your communications should typically reflect your area of expertise, particularly if you are communicating with a customer or otherwise about or on behalf of Dell Technologies. If you encounter customer questions or issues on social media, contact social@dell.com for review and support.
All team members are encouraged to speak about the company and share news and information, but only authorized and trained spokespeople may speak on behalf of Dell Technologies and issue official company responses. If you see something being shared related to Dell Technologies on a social media platform that shouldn't be happening, immediately inform the Social Business Team at Social@dell.com, your manager, Ethics and Compliance or some other appropriate contact. And always remember that anything posted in social media can go viral or be screenshotted, reshared or reposted as there is very little privacy protection for anything shared on social media, no matter what your privacy settings may be.
If you mistakenly post something on a social media platform, it will be hard to delete completely. So be sure you’re only posting content you would feel comfortable showing up in your boss’ inbox, your coworker’s X or Instagram feed, or the front page of a major news site. You should avoid posting content that might contain legal conclusions, intellectual property that belongs to other companies, or defamatory or inflammatory language. Everything you post online can be traced back to you, so be sure what you post is appropriate before you post it. Your post might be shared with others and archived even if you delete it later. Even if you put something in your bio about your content being just your own, that might not stop someone else online from complaining about your activity and noting that you work for Dell Technologies.
Social Media Account Ownership
If you participate in social media activities as part of your job at Dell Technologies on an account created for that purpose, that account is considered Dell Technologies’ property and remains so if you leave the company — meaning you will not try to change the password or the account name or create a similar sounding account or assert any ownership of the account or the contacts and connections you have gained through the account. Any materials created for or posted on the account will remain Dell Technologies property. This doesn't apply to personal accounts that you may access at work, but does apply to all Dell Technologies and affiliate company branded accounts. If you have any questions about an account you operate, please reach out to social@dell.com to discuss the account.
For any additional questions or support, reach out to social@dell.com.
Global Policy on Social Media Effective Date: November 2023
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