Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, offered Wednesday assistance to teachers in erasing their social media histories.
Weingarten tweeted out a link to its website, which advertised an artificial intelligence-powered tool that searched through the history of a social media account to identify potentially “harmful” posts.
LifeBrand will scan your social media accounts (currently covering Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and find any potentially harmful content. It will then guide you on how to delete or edit the post. The website states that the system can scan text, emojis images, videos, and sounds in both English, and Spanish.
Weingarten tweeted, “Our union will help you future proof your social media.” @AFTunion partnered with LifeBrand to offer a 25% discount on the cost of a powerful tool that scans social media for forgotten posts that might not reflect who we are today.
According to their website, AFT’s top officials have used this tool.
Fedrick C.Ingram, AFT Secretary and Treasurer, said: “In 15 years, I’ve seen my social media presence change. This was an excellent opportunity to go down memory lane. Although I came across some things that made me think, I feel my social media history is a reflection of who I was and who am I today. “It was nice to know that I could delete something with a single keystroke if it were found that someone else might use against me.”
Jeff Freitas is the president of California Federation of Teachers. He said, “I felt relieved that my historical posts were checked to see if there was a typo or misunderstanding, like when texting.”
Some social media posts caused controversy in schools and some teachers have been placed under fire. A teacher in Washington complained that the “guidelines and law” of many schools didn’t help her keep information about students secret from “Christofascists” parents.
Karen Love, a teacher at Auburn School District 408, responds to a tweet from another user who urged parents not to keep their child’s secrets from them.
Parents, please check your school district’s policy on keeping information about your child secret. Some policies are scary. The schools should not be able to withhold information about your child unless you are suspected of abuse. “I said it, and I mean it”, the tweet read.
Love replied, “I could not disagree more.” In this country, there are many students who face danger from their christo-fascist parent. Our guidelines and laws are not up to date.”
