With the emerging of social media and the vast range of offering it provides on a daily basis, it comes as no surprise to anyone that people are more inclined to share more online. However, this might be used against them, as in the recently revealed case of casino developer Galaxy Entertainment which was discovered to had been monitoring social media posts by employees and portray a more positive image of the casino operator following last summer’s Typhoon Hato wreckage.
Social media is a powerful tool which could make or break anyone’s reputation and guide the masses into thinking one way or another. It is no secret to anyone in the entertainment industry that people leave their reviews on many services across the field and this has the potential to attract more guests to the given location or seriously affect its operation by portraying it in an unfavorable way. Last summer brought the chaos which was caused by Typhoon Hato which inflicted great damage to the Hong Kong region.
Wreaking havoc across the region this typhoon was later on classified as a super typhoon with a wind speed of at least 185km/h which took the lives of as many as 16 people. The international gambling hub of Macau was hit too which caused a citywide flooding, numerous blackouts across the lively location, as well as water shortages in the following days. The weeks after the typhoon witnessed an even more considerable impact on Galaxy Entertainment if that was even possible.
The social media accounts of the casino developer and operator were flooded by negative comments related to the way the management of Galaxy dealt with the situation occurred. According to the information which was publicly revealed back then by employees of the casino developer, workers had been required to be at their work place while the typhoon was wreaking havoc across the gambling hub. The claimed that this was potentially threatening their well-being and overall safety.
Galaxy’s Decisions Cause Privacy Violation Concerns
In addition to that, there was also the threat of cash sanctions if they are not present and clocking in on time. As a result of this occurrence, hundreds of casino workers employed by numerous casino developers in Macau went out on a strike. They made a good use of the situation and placed their foot down in an attempt to better their overall condition in the field.
Demands ranged from higher annual wage bonuses to scraping of the internal staff rating system. This overall vocal expression of their discontent echoed throughout the industry and attracted the attention of many people and as it could be expected social media played a pivotal role in the entire process. Now the South China Morning Post made it clear that the casino developer has been working on alleviating the situation with the help of Search Engine Optimization company YouFind.
Along the lines of the operation, the two businesses were aiming to neutralize the negative impact previously caused by the employees and their supporters. The SEO company was employed to create online accounts which spread the word about the positive image of Galaxy. Across a wide variety of social outlets, the company influenced the negative image of Galaxy in an attempt to redeem it.
The casino developer and operator made it clear that the procedure was considered usual for the international industry and nothing out of the ordinary. In the meantime, workers are concerned with their privacy and claim that it has been violated since their posts have been monitored by the SEO company over the past two months.
The issue, in this case, stems from the fact that this has been happening without a notice being introduced prior to it, as it is listed in the Hong Kong privacy law. In the light of recent events involving privacy violation performed by Cambridge Analytica obtaining personal data about Facebook users, Galaxy Entertainment practices raise the awareness even more.
