HR File: Can employees be held liable for social media posts?

The Houston Rockets basketball team have become all too familiar with this issue of late when general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the ongoing protests in Hong Kong – ‘Fight For Freedom, Stand With Hong Kong.’ He was swiftly met with criticism from Chinese fans, sponsors and commercial partners.

While Morey was quick to delete the tweet, and released a statement that he had ‘had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives’, it was too little too late.

Chinese broadcasters and streaming channels made their dissatisfaction clear, confirming that they would no longer broadcast the Rockets’ games to millions of Chinese fans.