{"id":81478,"date":"2018-06-21T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=81478"},"modified":"2018-06-21T12:30:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T19:30:09","slug":"galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy Entertainment Accused of Employee Privacy Violations After Developing Thin Skin Over Typhoon Hato"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group has been accused of violating the personal privacy rights of its employers after the<\/em> South China Morning Post<\/em> discovered it monitors the private social media activity of its employees for negative comments about the company.<\/p>\n

\"Galaxy
Galaxy Entertainment Group\u2019s digital media marketing is accused of seriously overstepping the mark after Typhoon Hato, when many of its employees complained to authorities about their working conditions. (Image: Galaxy Entertainment Group)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to SCMP<\/em>, Galaxy adopted the policy following the criticism it received in the wake of Typhoon Hato.<\/a><\/p>\n

In August 2017, the category 10 typhoon swept into Macau, killing 16 people. Forecasters had failed to predict the severity of the storm — the worst to strike Macau in 50 years — and casinos were largely unprepared.<\/p>\n

Casino workers from across the enclave — not just Galaxy properties — complained they had been expected to attend work<\/a>, despite the life-threatening conditions, and faced wage deductions for being late or absent.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, local news media reported that \u201chundreds\u201d of Galaxy workers complained about unpaid overtime and insufficient rest time to Macau\u2019s Labour Affairs Bureau.<\/p>\n

\u2018Neutralizing Negativity\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

But SCMP<\/em> has learned that, in reaction to criticism, Galaxy sought the services of Hong Kong-based digital marketing company, YouFind.<\/p>\n

According to internal documents obtained by the newspaper, YouFind was tasked with monitoring employees\u2019 online activity and \u201cweeding out\u201d comments or narratives detrimental to the company, while creating positive comments to \u201cneutralize negativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Employees expressed dismay at the revelations, telling SCMP<\/em> that Galaxy\u2019s behavior was tantamount to \u201cspying\u201d and akin to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But the in a statement on Wednesday, Galaxy claimed it had done no wrong<\/p>\n

\u201cIn accordance with entirely standard global industry practice, Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) has appointed outsourcing suppliers to provide social media marketing services to GEG in order to measure and enhance the group\u2019s online social media presence,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGEG has not and will not authorise any illegal use of social media. GEG proactively fulfils its social responsibilities and strives to ensure that the conduct of its business complies with the laws of [Macau and Hong Kong].<\/p>\n

Anonymous Whistleblower <\/strong><\/h2>\n

But since both Galaxy and YouFind are listed in Hong Kong, they have a duty to abide by that jurisdiction\u2019s corporate privacy regulations.<\/p>\n

These state that \u201cemployers … have a responsibility to ensure that a privacy policy pertaining to employee monitoring is developed and brought to the notice of employees before the monitoring is introduced.\u201d<\/p>\n

But an anonymous whistleblower told SCMP <\/em>this had not been the case.<\/p>\n

It was absolutely a secret contract, normal procedures were not followed,\u201d the source said. \u201cIf it is all ethical, above board, and in complete compliance with all the necessary laws, why all the secrecy?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Hong Kong privacy regulator said it was monitoring the situation and will take action where \u201cproper and appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group has been accused of violating the personal privacy rights of its employers after the South China Morning Post discovered it monitors the private social media activity of its employees for negative comments about the company. According to SCMP, Galaxy adopted the policy following the criticism it received in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":81483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGalaxy Entertainment Accused of Spying on Employee Social Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Macau operator Galaxy Entertainment employed Hong Kong digital marketing company YouFind to monitor employees\u2019 social media activity following criticism in the wake of Typhoon Hato.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Galaxy Entertainment Accused of Spying on Employee Social Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Macau operator Galaxy Entertainment employed Hong Kong digital marketing company YouFind to monitor employees\u2019 social media activity following criticism in the wake of Typhoon Hato.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-21T22:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-21T19:30:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/galaxy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/\",\"name\":\"Galaxy Entertainment Accused of Spying on Employee Social Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/galaxy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-21T22:00:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-21T19:30:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Macau operator Galaxy Entertainment employed Hong Kong digital marketing company YouFind to monitor employees\u2019 social media activity following criticism in the wake of Typhoon Hato.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/galaxy-entertainment-accused-of-spying-on-employee-social-media\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/galaxy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/galaxy.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"Galaxy Entertainment Group\u2019s social media policy is accused of getting out of line after Typhoon Hato, when many of its employees complained to authorities about their working conditions. 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