Digital footprint checks are 100% legal and used widely, both in Australia and overseas.

Using social media to conduct background checks is a common practice employed across industries of all types.

CheckSocial uses the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) as a framework for digital footprint checks, an objective model set out by the Australian government, whose agencies and departments use it to conduct their own digital footprint checks.

Qualified vetting personnel are also employed, who all have extensive experience conducting these checks.

By having a personal digital footprint check conducted, you’ll have a valuable opportunity to quickly, easily and precisely curate your online presence, by removing any unwanted content that may paint you in a negative light.

This ensures that you are presenting your best self online at all times, as well as helping you to put your best foot forward in the job search.

After you order and provide consent for the check, the CheckSocial platform will find all relevant content and accounts associated with you that are available online.

This content uncovered is then classified into relevant categories, with a final review conducted by an assessing officer, before a report is generated and sent to you via email.

In most cases, you will receive your personal check report within 48 hours, via a PDF sent to the email you used to sign up for your CheckSocial account.

A full personal check and comprehensive report comes at a cost of just $29.

Your personal check report will include information covering seven unique categories. For more information, download a sample report here.

CheckSocial takes data privacy and your data rights very seriously, and do not provide reports - or the information uncovered within - to anyone other than the person who requests them.

To learn more, view our privacy policy here.

In many cases, content posted online by an individual will be of little relevance or interest to their organisation.

However, there are numerous examples of organisations suffering significant reputational damage when their employees have posted inappropriate content online.

Additionally, most organisations maintain a code of conduct and social media policy that employees are expected to abide by. Digital footprint checks benefit both employee and employer - ensuring any content being posted online is consistent with the company’s culture, image and brand.

The report generated following a check provides raw data only – not opinion or conjecture. It is up to the recipient of the report alone as to how they choose to act on the information provided in the report.

Additionally, the report is provided directly and securely to the requestor only, and never published externally.

Absolutely – where an employer or hiring manager has requested a report, CheckSocial encourages them to discuss any findings of the report with the candidate, in order to provide them with an opportunity to clarify the findings of the report.

In most cases - no, the CheckSocial platform is not able to uncover and report on private posts or profiles.

However, there may be a ‘bleed’ of data via friends due to sharing settings within each social media platform. In such cases, content may be visible.

The check is not designed to specifically uncover social or political leanings of candidates. Its purpose is to provide objective data based on publicly available information.

Any decisions made by employers or hiring managers as a result of the data provided to them through the report are ultimately their responsibility.

Sometimes we forget or lose track of what we have said or done online. Others, people may post content about us that we may not be aware of.

Actually, it is possible to link content posted under an alias back to the person who posted it. Techniques include linking via common attributes such as an email address or phone number, as well as analysis of posted content such as text and photos.