Censorship at T-Mobile USA

Last week T-Mobile released a new Social Networking Policy that was leaked to us. This policy basically prohibits T-Mobile employees from talking about about their work and the real T-Mobile on Facebook, Twitter, JobVent or TUworkers.org without revealing their identiy.  

• "If you communicate about T-Mobile's business, products, and/or services, you must disclose your affiliation with T-Mobile. You must be transparent and not anonymous: use your real name, and identify yourself as a T-Mobile employee."

Let's see how that would go in real life: "Hi, my name is Jane Doe, I am a customer service rep in the Richmond, VA call center and I hate my job. The metrics are ridiculous, my manager treats me with disrespect and I really think we need a union to protect us." How much longer would Jane D. be working as a customer service rep in Richmond after her manager sees that post on JobVent or Facebook? Probably not that long. 

The Real T-Mobile understands the need to protect business secrets. But this is not about business secrets. This is about all speech. According to the policy employees cannot "disclose any non-public information." This pretty much covers anything that an employee witnesses at the workplace. This is an attempt to silence the voices that have articulated workplace concerns on this web site, on our Facebook page, at our Twitter site, and elsewhere. This censorship is about stifling the voices of T-Mobile workers.  To paraphrase the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, censorship reflects the Company's "lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime."

Click here for a copy of the leaked policy.

The Real T-Mobile will investigate the legality of this policy, and we'll keep you posted. Until then - long live freedom of speech!