FAQ: What is Social Media Screening?

Picture this: You hire a new company executive. They interviewed well and passed their background check. You are so excited for them to join the team. Within six months, that executive sexually harasses the company’s top-performing sales rep. She ultimately quits and the team struggles (and ultimately fails) to recover from her loss. In the post-mortem, you discover that the new executive had posted dozens of misogynistic comments and inappropriate content publicly on Facebook—content that, had it been seen earlier, could’ve prevented the hire (and the scandal) entirely.

That moment changed everything. It revealed a hard truth: online behavior doesn’t stay online. It shows up at work. And traditional background checks don’t catch it.

The harsh reality is, that scenario isn’t hypothetical. It’s the real-life experience that led to the founding of Fama. 

Social media screening exists to help employers avoid this exact situation. It gives hiring teams visibility into how candidates behave online, in public, before they join the team. With online behavior becoming increasingly reflective of how people behave in real life, this kind of screening is essential to protect both businesses and their teams.

What is Social Media Screening?

Social media screening, also referred to as a social media background check or online screening, is the process of reviewing a candidate’s public online footprint to identify early indicators of behavior that are detrimental to the workplace and raise concerns in a professional setting.

This includes publicly available articles, posts, comments, videos, and shared content across platforms like LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, YouTube, and over 10,000 online sources. The goal? To spot early warning signs of misconduct—things like threats, harassment, or fraud—that wouldn’t show up on a resume, in an interview, or even a traditional background check.

Social media screening provides employers the behavioral insights they need to fill in the gaps. It offers a more holistic and accurate view of how someone might show up at work, not just how they present themselves during the hiring process.

Why Employers Conduct Social Media Background Checks When Hiring?

We’re hiring into a digital world. With over 5 billion people using social media and digital natives making up the majority of the workforce, it’s incredibly important to screen candidates for misconduct where it’s most likely to begin–online. Employers are paying attention to these environments, and for good reason.

According to Fama’s 2024 State of Misconduct at Work report, 1 in 20 candidates showed signs of misconduct online that went undetected during the hiring process or the background check. And perhaps more concerning: online threats increased by 180% year-over-year.

Social media screening helps employers proactively spot potential issues before they lead to legal, cultural, financial, or reputational fallout. Whether you're hiring for an executive role or a high-volume frontline position, this kind of insight is becoming a key part of candidate screening and pre-employment background checks.

What Shows Up on a Social Media Background Check?

When done properly, social media screening isn’t about judging people for their opinions or lifestyle. It’s about identifying clear, job-relevant risks as a result of the data found in a candidate’s web presence.

But, every piece of data also needs to be considered alongside the context in which it was discovered. That’s why platforms like Fama are built to understand nuance: the difference between satire and a threat, between advocacy and extremism.

Here are examples of what does get flagged:

• Crime references tied directly to the individual (not just general news)
• Threats or violence with serious tone or intent
• Harassment, especially patterns of online bullying or abuse
• Intolerance, including hate symbols or discriminatory language
• Sexual content, filtered to avoid false positives (e.g. art or education)
• Drug use, focused on promotion or abuse—not recovery-related posts

What doesn’t get flagged? Protected class information. Personal opinions. Jokes misread out of context. Fama’s human-in-the-loop model ensures reports are accurate, compliant, and focused on real-world risk—not internet noise. And, this ensures that the content analyzed is only comprised of content that pose a legitimate risk to the workplace, while respecting the candidate’s privacy and legal rights.

Is Social Media Screening Legal?

Perhaps one of our most commonly asked questions is about the legality of online screening, and whether or not this is something businesses are even allowed to do. The answer is yes—when done correctly.

Social media screening is legal, but it must comply with federal laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, along with dozens of state and global privacy laws.

Key legal guardrails include:

• FCRA compliance: Requires written candidate consent and proper adverse action procedures.
• Privacy protections: In most states, including New York, it’s illegal to ask for social media passwords or access to private accounts.
• Bias mitigation: Employers must avoid viewing or making decisions based on protected characteristics like race, religion, gender, or disability.

That’s why DIY screening is risky. Partnering with a provider like Fama ensures that your process is ethical, legal, and structured to protect both the employer and the candidate.

How Does a Social Media Background Check Work?

We’ve already established what social media screening is used for and what kind of content they can analyze, but what does this process look like from start to end? Fama’s process was designed from the ground up to be compliant, scalable, and context-aware. Here’s an overview of the 5 steps included in Fama’s social media background check:

1. Profile Confirmation
   Our patent-pending process verifies that the social media profiles being reviewed actually belong to the candidate, using at least three unique identifiers.
2. Content Collection
   We scan over 10,000 public sources, including social media platforms, forums, blogs, and news articles.
3. AI-Powered Analysis
   Our AI flags content based on behavioral indicators tied to workplace risk, such as violence, threats, harassment, and illegal activity. We also support custom keywords based on your brand, job, or industry needs.
4. Human Review
   Ethical AI requires consistent and continuous human review. Every report and every flagged item is reviewed by trained analysts who understand context, tone, and platform norms. This eliminates false positives and ensures fairness.
5. Compliant Report Delivery
   Reports are then shared with customers–without protected class information, tailored to your risk criteria, and fully FCRA-compliant.

What Are the Benefits of Social Media Background Checks?

Employers aren’t just using social media screening because they can. They’re doing it because it works. Whether that’s preventing a workplace shooting by finding an online manifesto, or keeping a known sexual predator away from employees, the value that social media screening brings to businesses is undeniable. 

At a glance, key benefits include:

• Uncovering hidden risk: Spot misconduct traditional hiring processes and background checks can’t catch.
• Improving quality of hire: Better hires mean better retention, performance, and culture.
• Protecting your brand: One bad post can go viral, causing nine to five nightmares—don’t let it happen on your watch.
• Reducing turnover: High performing employees don’t want to work in toxic workplaces where unethical behavior is tolerated. Misconduct screenings help keep great employees in the door! 
• Preventing future risks: Social learning and peer influence means that misconduct spreads, probably more easily than you think. Screening stops it before it starts.
• Saving money: Legal, cultural, and brand damage from a bad hire is expensive. In fact, a bad hire costs a business 30% or more of the employee’s first-year salary.

According to our 2024 report, candidates flagged for one instance of online misconduct had an average of 18 additional incidents. That’s not an outlier—it’s a pattern. And patterns like that put people, teams, and reputations at risk.

7 Best Practices for Social Media Screening

Social media screening can offer valuable insights, but only if it’s done thoughtfully, legally, and ethically. To do it right, stay compliant, and prioritize the well being of your business and its employees, employers should follow these trusted best practices:

1. Get written consent: Always provide a clear disclosure and obtain signed authorization before screening.
2. Work with a third-party provider: Avoid manual reviews that expose hiring teams to bias and legal risk.
3. Review public content only: Never ask for passwords or access to private profiles.
4. Focus on job relevance: Flag behaviors that actually affect performance, safety, or brand and avoid content that’s reflective of non-job relevant personal beliefs or lifestyles.
5. Redact protected information: Candidates’ protected class information should never influence hiring or employment decisions.
6. Follow the adverse action process: If you make a decision based on a report, the candidate has the right to see and respond to the findings.
7. Screen at key moments: Consider employee rescreenings at regular intervals and during promotions, investigations, or before public endorsements. This allows employers to make decisions regarding any behaviors that may have changed after a person has been hired. 

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When done right, social media screening becomes a competitive advantage and not just a compliance tool.

Why Use Fama for Social Media Screening?

Fama is the leading solution for AI-powered social media background checks and behavior intelligence. Built for compliance, trusted by enterprises, and backed by world-class customer support, we help organizations make better decisions at every stage of the hiring process and employee lifecycle. 

What sets us apart?

• Designed for compliance from day one: FCRA, EEOC, GDPR, and state laws.
• Behavior-first analysis: We focus on risk, not gossip or lifestyle.
• Context-aware AI: Detects nuance, tone, and relevance.
• Scalable and customizable: Whether you’re hiring thousands or screening one high-profile exec, we can adapt to your needs.
• Global-ready: Screening in 25+ languages across 10,000+ sources.
• Real support, real people: Onboarding, compliance advice, and help when it counts.

We don’t just surface risk—we help you make sense of it so you can protect your people, your culture, and your bottom line.

There’s an estimated 5.64 billion internet users worldwide. Learn how Fama can help you screen ethically and effectively when there’s a good chance your applicants and your employees have an online presence. Request a demo today.

Social Media Screening FAQ

What is social media screening in recruitment?

Social media screening is the process of reviewing a job candidate’s public online content to identify potential misconduct and evaluate culture risks during the hiring process.

Is it legal to perform a social media background check?

Yes, but only if you have candidate consent, follow FCRA rules, and avoid reviewing private or protected information.

What platforms can be reviewed?

Common platforms include LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, and more. 

Can employers see private social media accounts?

No. Social media background checks are limited to publicly available content.

How long does social media screening take?

Fama’s social media background checks are fast, scalable, and built for both high-volume recruiting and investigative use cases. With automated tools like Fama, results can be delivered within hours to a few days, depending on the depth and volume of reports. For example, Fama Plus reports may come back in as fast as 24 hours whereas a comprehensive Fama 360 executive due diligence report may take 72 hours. 

What is Fama.io?

Fama is the world’s leading AI-driven solution for social media screening and misconduct detection. We help employers make safer, smarter hiring decisions with compliant and scalable screening tools.