The world’s biggest companies are struggling to comply with regulations on social media despite huge investment in tools to manage emerging communications tools, according to the security vendor Proofpoint.
An analysis of Fortune 100 companies carried out by the firm showed that official pages on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn were frequently leaking sensitive information.
Devin Redmond, VP and GM of Nexgate, a Proofpoint subsidiary, said: "Compliance violations pose a particular threat as they have serious financial and regulatory consequences.
"Our combination of natural language processing, contextual analysis and regulatory research and expertise is what allows Nexgate to understand, expose and stop these risks."
On average the companies analysed had 70 compliance issues on their pages, with more than 50 being generated by public commentators and more than ten being the fault of the company itself.
Financial services accounted for more than 250 risks on average, making its social media pages the least compliant of any sector.
Proofpoint found that only half of social media posts were being routed through marketing and content platforms even though Fortune 100 companies were all likely to own these tools.
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"This suggests that employees are either unaware, ignoring or deliberately circumventing approved publishing workflow," it said in a statement. "These applications can warn employees of compliance violations and public relations mistakes prior to posting."
The company also highlighted the fast nature of social media as a contributing factor in driving noncompliant posting, making staff and customers more likely to make misleading statements or share information inappropriately.
