Social media guidelines under Chatham House Rule

The Chatham House Rule

► When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but cannot reveal either the identity or the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant.

Tweeting under the Chatham House Rule

► The Rule can be adhered to on social media sites, such as Twitter, as long as the person tweeting or messaging reports only what was said at an event and does not identify - directly or indirectly - the speaker or another participant. This consideration should always guide the way in which event information is disseminated - online as well as offline.

General guidelines for tweeting

► Acceptable tweets: There is lots you can do without quoting someone. Examples include:

  • Tweeting about the general topic of discussions (e.g., #RegTech discussion of RegTech council great stuff!”, “wow, 80+ folks leaning in on the AI roundtable #RegTech”
  • Noting what parts of the discussion are most interesting to you (e.g., #RegTech great point, I agree with, etc.)

Directly quoting an individual. You must use your discretion as to whether you are directly or indirectly identifying the speaker or another participant. Use common sense:

  • If it is a keynote address, it will be very clear who it is that is speaking and you should not tweet that something was said, as it will violate the rule by identifying them
  • If it is a roundtable discussion it is likely fair game (NB: picture point below)
  • If it is merely a question from the audience, it is most likely fine.

► Pictures. Pictures are generally encouraged and are excellent for demonstrating the popularity of our event. A cautious approach should be taken, however, of taking pictures of speakers during an event. If you are paraphrasing or directly reporting what a speaker has said and you include a picture of them, then the tweet would break the Chatham House Rule.