Recently, Luxembourgish youth politician Joe Thein got ruled out of his party ADR after he liked a troll’s comment on Facebook who stated that Luxembourg’s foreign minister should die.

Several trials in the recent months have shown, in Luxembourg and elsewhere, that hate speech on social networks is not being accepted anymore. In the real world humans managed to create certain rules and laws to protect each other from threats of any kind. And a call for death or murder cannot be accepted - not in the real world and not in a written form on the web!

So, can a Like of such a message not be accepted either? For sure I think! People must become aware of the fact that social networks are getting more and more regulated by mutual control. So if someone spots a Like, a message or whatever reaction of you that this person doesn’t agree with, you’re likely to be judged by this person without having really discussed the topic.

So it’s a simplification, it may even be a prejudice on either side, by judging and reacting on posts. The obvious hint is know: think before you click!

We all have quickly liked already a message we thought we would agree with but after re-reading it we removed this Like again as we found ourselves wrong. But technology gives to all of us the possibility to save this short moment. And I don’t write of Facebook’s activity log or a browser history or cache or whatever: I write about the simple screenshot! You like a post, you change mind, you unlike it again but it’s too late: your “opponent” has made the screenshot that YOU liked this post and he can distribute it forever wherever he wants.

You see the issue? So generally speaking, everyone who opens his Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. account must be aware of the risks he is taking when leaving traces on these networks.

So if you want to be sure and have some professional advice, then get in touch – PaulMedia offers, among others, a basic social media training for private persons, but these topics can also be relevant for companies and their publishers!

So watch out of what you’re posting and take care!