"At the beginning of 2023, the Charity Commission published draft guidance for charities on their use of social media. Charities, trustees, and individuals were invited to feedback on the draft guidance in the consultation period, which ran from 17 January to 14 March 2023.

Infrastructure bodies, NCVO, CharityComms, and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising convened their members in early March 2023 to discuss the draft guidance, to air concerns, and to help facilitate discussion around how best to respond to the consultation.

There were a number of concerns raised, such as the onus on trustees to have oversight of social media channels (more operational than governance), the lack of practical templates and case study examples, concern over infringing on people’s right to freedom of expression, and the use of subjective language – for example, ‘problematic content’.

After receiving 396 responses to the draft consultation, the Charity Commission has now published the final guidance. They have also produced a helpful feedback summary of key themes and concerns arising from the consultation and the action they have taken as a result.

On the whole, the sector has reacted positively to how the Charity Commission incorporated the feedback into their final guidance document."

Information from Charity Digital's assessment of the guidance.