Company out to “neutralize” negativity
Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group is facing widespread criticism for alleging deleting negative online comments by some workers.
GEG reportedly recruited Hong Kong-based digital company YouFind to secretly monitor the web activity and quash negative comments. Macau labor unions and some casino workers are challenging the activity as “an affront to personal privacy rights and tantamount to a spying operation,” according to the South China Morning Post.
The Post cited internal company documents that detail the operation, designed to edit out online posts that are critical of Galaxy, to “neutralize” negativity and “create positive comments in Facebook groups etc.”
Galaxy defended the “monitoring” and “seeding” program and said it operated in compliance with “entirely standard global industry practice.”
Much of the online criticism came after Typhoon Hato, which hit Macau in August 2017, killed 16 people and caused extensive damage to the city’s major industry. In the aftermath, hundreds of Galaxy employees complained to labor unions about poor working conditions during the storm; in February, Galaxy saw fit to give out special bonuses to soothe ruffled feathers.
Hong Kong’s Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Stephen Wong Kai-yi said he is looking into the matter, saying employers are duty-bound to “ensure that a privacy policy pertaining to employee monitoring is developed and brought to the notice of employees before the monitoring is introduced.”
One Galaxy employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, described being “very upset about my employer being able to spy on my private conversations and identify any bad comments about Galaxy behind my back. Gossip is normal and so is expressing opinions. We should not be spied on by our employer and have the details of our views twisted and faked.”
Another employee, who also spoke anonymously, said Galaxy is “very worried about their reputation after their response to Typhoon Hato. But this seems too much, it’s like Cambridge Analytica, and I think it is against me in terms of privacy and the right to speak my opinion, and not have it twisted by made-up people online.”
Sources said Galaxy executives and YouFind made “absolutely a secret contract” in which “normal procedures were not followed. If it is all ethical, above-board and in complete compliance with all the necessary laws, why all the secrecy?”
A statement from Galaxy replied that the company simply “appointed outsourcing suppliers to provide social media marketing services to GEG in order to measure and enhance the group’s online social media presence.
“GEG has not and will not authorize any illegal use of social media,” the statement continued. “GEG proactively fulfills its social responsibilities and strives to ensure that the conduct of its business complies with the laws of Macau and Hong Kong.”
