Tighter separation of private messages and business content

A report published in the Navy Times on 28 October reiterated how military personnel should behave when using social media.

It stated that the ministry would follow up on reports about relatives who violate the current social media guidelines. The guidelines were only revised in March and are now apparently being tightened following several incidents. "We are committed to upholding the highest standards of behaviour. Members of the armed forces are expected to uphold the core values of the Navy and Marine Corps on duty, off duty and online."

All military personnel are instructed to ensure that personal social media accounts clearly communicate that opinions expressed privately on online platforms are not legalised by the US Navy or the Department of Defence. While individuals are allowed to display military titles and photos of themselves in uniform, they must ensure that the associated content is not of an official nature. If in doubt, they must include a disclaimer stating that their content reflects their personal views only. Military personnel must also ensure that they do not disclose any non-public information when communicating via social media. The memo reminds military members that they are always subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and points out a list of offences they could be in breach of if they do not adhere to social media guidelines.

The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Daryl CaudleThe Pentagon also published instructions for military leaders on 15 September on how to deal with violations. It has since become known that the Pentagon has already disciplined several soldiers. The most prominent case was a US Navy doctor, Commander Janelle Marra , who was dismissed as Director of Medical Services at the Expeditionary Medical Facility in San Diego, California, for possible misuse of social media. The dismissal was ordered by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. On LinkedIn, she had allegedly described herself as ""Navy Deputy Medical

Director for Transgender Health Care". Although this was not the case, she had instead been nominated for a transgender health centre within the Defense Health Agency. However, this was never realised.

Lieutenant Alexis Travis, a naval officer with more than 120,000 followers on Instagram, posted a piece breaking down the biggest differences between the new social media guidelines and the previous ones. She interprets the new memo to mean that sharing information is allowed as long as no opinions about Ministry of Defence policy are included. "It's not that you can't provide information, it's that you shouldn't provide your personal opinion," Travis said in her Instagram post about the interpretation of the new directive. "You shouldn't say this is a good policy or a bad policy."

Source: Ceder / Navy Times

Translation: hsc