NAR Mid-Year Ethics Changes - False & Misleading Statements Made via Social Media Tools

Standard of Practice 15-2 was amended and a new Standard of Practice was approved to strengthen members’ obligations to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, including in use of social media tools.

Standard of Practice 15-2 has been amended as follows: "The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, competitors' businesses and competitors' business practices includes the duty to not knowingly or recklessly publish, repeat, retransmit, or republish false or misleading statements made by others. This duty applies whether false or misleading statements are repeated in person, in writing, by technological means (e.g., the Internet), or by any other means."

The new Standard of Practice related to Article 15 is adopted as follows: "The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, competitors' businesses and competitors' business practices includes the duty to publish a clarification about or remove statements made by others on electronic media the Realtor controls once the Realtor knows the statement is false or misleading."

For example, if you’re publishing a blog and someone posts a false or misleading comment about a fellow REALTOR® on it, it’s your duty to remove the post or publish a clarification when you become aware of it.

While I do not have any problem with using social media to promote our profession, I think this change is long overdue as using social media as a means to publish hurtful, false or misleading statements about fellow Realtors. It hurts not only the intended recipient but it shows a lack of integrity on the part of the sender who is in the same profession. It hurts us all in the long run.