Social Media

Social Media Terms and Conditions

MetLife does not verify information not posted by us on social media sites. Opinions, statements, or comments on those sites – other than from a MetLife official account – are not endorsed opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or procedures of MetLife.

USE OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

General terms

1.  These Social Media Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) apply to social media sites owned and operated by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and its parent, subsidiaries, and affiliates (collectively “MetLife”, “we” or “us”) in the United States.

2.  Before navigating our sites, we encourage you to also read and understand the terms of use of the social media channel.

3.  By using and navigating through our social media sites, you agree to these T&Cs, house rules, and policies posted by us or on our behalf. Note that we might modify this information from time to time without notice. Therefore, make sure to monitor any changes or new postings made from a MetLife official account.

4.  These T&Cs also apply to other digital channels, such as messenger, chat, and email. We may use these channels to communicate with you and to follow up regarding an inquiry or comment, in which case an authorized MetLife representative will contact you. (See FAQs below)

Respect and privacy

5.  Be respectful. Do not post information on our social media sites about other people that is confidential, false, discriminatory, defamatory, obscene, threatening, intimidating or abusive.

6.  Do not post personal information about yourself or others, such as phone number or home address.  Never post sensitive personal information about your or another person’s health, policy or claim number. To protect your privacy, a MetLife representative will only request personal information from a MetLife email address or chat. (See FAQs below)

7.  If you want to know how we handle your personal information or learn about your privacy rights, visit https://www.metlife.com/about-us/privacy-policy/ or send an email to privacy@metlife.com.

Right to moderate

8.  We will remove posts or block access to our sites in case of any violation to other people’s rights, laws or these T&Cs. We may also remove any posts that contain mention of specific securities or that could be construed as an investment testimonial or endorsement of MetLife’s or its affiliates’, products, services, or employees.

Right to content and its use

9.  The text, designs, graphics, logos, icons, images, videos, and interfaces, as well as the selection and arrangement thereof posted by MetLife, are the exclusive property of, and owned by, MetLife or its licensors or content providers and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws.

10.  You may not copy, download, or print the content on our social media sites for any use.

11.  We may occasionally use or modify the content (other than your personal information) that you publicly and voluntarily provide on our social media sites or through our channels, unless you reserve such right.

12.  Bear in mind that MetLife may share such information to others, including individuals outside of MetLife (e.g., regulators, law enforcement agencies, thirdparties) and in any media now known or later developed. We will only do so as allowed by law.

13.  You represent and warrant that you have the right to post all text, designs, graphics, icons, images, videos and other interfaces on the MetLife sites and that doing so does not violate the intellectual property rights of any third party.  You hereby grant to MetLife a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to host and display all such text, designs, graphics, icons, images, videos, and other interfaces on the MetLife sites.

Not legal advice

14.  The content that we post on our social media sites is not advice and is not a substitute for obtaining legal, tax, financial, or other professional advice from your legal, tax, financial, or other professional advisors. By making the content on our social media sites available to you, MetLife is not engaged in rendering any such legal, tax, financial, or other professional advice.

 Other sites

15.  For your convenience, we may provide links to other sites that may be out of MetLife’s control. We have not necessarily reviewed all the information on those other sites and, therefore, it should not be viewed as an endorsement of the content of the linked websites. Make sure to review the terms and conditions that may apply to your use of any linked sites.

Want to learn more about MetLife?

16.  MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. Founded in 1868, MetLife is a global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management. Serving approximately 100 million customers, MetLife has operations in nearly 50 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

17.  Group legal plans are provided by Hyatt Legal Plans, Inc., Cleveland, OH. In certain states, group legal plans are provided through insurance coverage underwritten by Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Warwick, RI.

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA SITES FOR METLIFE EMPLOYEES

What is Social Media?

Social media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content such as text, images, audio, or video. It includes all forms of public, web-based communication, whether existing at the time of this Policy’s adoption or created at a future date.

Social media is a mainstream channel for corporate and customer communications across MetLife entities and affiliations around the world. Our customers frequently connect with the brand on social media, and expect we’ll deliver insights and real-time responses to their questions.

Social media is also a channel for MetLife employees to share content, experiences, and perspectives; to demonstrate their expertise; to connect with professional communities; and gain visibility for what they do best for MetLife’s customers. This is intended to provide MetLife employees with guidance for interacting on social media whether it’s for business-related or personal use.​

Use Social Media Responsibly

Please consider accuracy before you post. If you make a mistake, correct it quickly. Never post information or rumors that you know to be false about MetLife, employees, customers, consumers, suppliers, people working on behalf of MetLife, or competitors.

Use good judgment and common sense. You should carefully consider the effect of anything you post on the reputation of MetLife, yourself, and others.

Do not use any statements, photos, video, or audio that reasonably could be viewed as discriminatory, malicious, obscene, threatening, intimidating, or that might constitute threats of violence, harassment or bullying. Examples include posts intended to harm or sabotage someone's reputation or that contribute to a hostile work environment on the basis of any status protected by law or company policy. Don’t post, share or ‘like’ disparaging statements about employees, customers, consumers, and suppliers.

MetLife as Employer

You may list MetLife as your employer if you would like, subject to the guidance below regarding speaking on behalf of MetLife.

Follow, Engage, Like, Comment, and Share

MetLife maintains global, company-sponsored channels on social media. These include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Employees are encouraged to follow these channels and should feel free to engage by sharing, liking, and commenting on company content. Investments employees and FINRA associated persons may be subject to additional restrictions on the use of social media. Please see below.

Employees are also encouraged to share content related to the MetLife community and their activities participating in the MetLife community, but they should be clearly identified as MetLife employees when doing so. Such content includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Volunteer efforts (e.g. MetLife Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, MVET);
• MetLife.com articles;
• External conferences, sponsorships, events (e.g. Ignition, Collab, PGA, Chamber of Commerce);
• Speaking engagements (please refer to Global Communications for approval prior to posting at globalcomms@metlife.com); and
• Job openings (e.g. sharing public postings from MetLife).

FINRA Associated Persons and MetLife Investments Personnel

FINRA Associated Persons are subject to special rules. Associated Persons with MetLife Investors Distribution Company (MLIDC) should consult the MLIDC Compliance Manual for further information and direct any specific questions to Compliance Risk Management (Compliance) at  MLIDC_Comliance@metlife.com.

Regulated employees with MetLife Investments should consult the Investments Social Media and Electronic Communications Policy and direct any specific questions they may have to Investments Compliance.

The rules for MLIDC and MetLife Investments will take precedence over this policy for the matters addressed by those rules.

Be Transparent

If you publish content on social media about MetLife or its business, you should make clear that you are a MetLife employee. Further, if you are publishing content about MetLife or its business, you should make clear that you are not speaking on behalf of the Company. For example, you should use language such as “views are my own” in your bio section, particularly if you are speaking about the Company on a platform with limited word counts (e.g., Twitter). For posts on platforms that allow for expanded word counts, consider using a statement such as “The views I post are my own and do not represent those of MetLife.”

Do Not Make Statements or Speak on Social Media on Behalf of MetLife

Only authorized employees may speak on behalf of the Company in social media. Any inquiries seeking comment on behalf of MetLife. including in any social media outlet, should be directed to Global Communications and your manager.

Also, keep in mind that MetLife is a public company subject to substantial regulation over the content and timing of its communications with the public. Thus, whether you are commenting in a corporate or individual capacity, if you are commenting on industry or economic issues in a way that could be perceived as reflecting on, or making projections concerning, the performance of MetLife, you should get approval from your business and/or function at the Executive Group level, prior to posting.

Uphold Confidentiality

At all times, protect the confidentiality of customer information and the company’s trade secrets and confidential information. Confidential information includes:

• Personal, health, or sensitive information about our customers and consumers.
• Trade secrets; and Internal, business-related information such as reports, details around strategies, initiatives, technologies, or business processes and operations, and systems and information of third parties given to MetLife under obligations of confidentiality.

Revenue, earnings, transactions, and any other business or financial information that’s not available to the public should never be posted.

Respect Privacy Always

MetLife prohibits inclusion of customer information in social media. No personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) of any customer, consumer, claimant, other employee, contingent worker, agent, applicant, supplier or third party should be posted to social media. Examples of PII and PHI include health insurance information, bank and/or credit account information, social security number, passport number, driver’s license number.

Respect Intellectual Property Laws

For your protection, as well as MetLife’s, it is important to adhere to the laws governing copyright, fair use of copyright materials owned by others, trademarks, logos, patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual property, including MetLife’s own copyrights, trademarks, and brands.

Comply with all Applicable Laws, Regulations and Policies

When participating in social media, employees must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including the rules of applicable self-regulatory organizations.

Employees must also comply with MetLife policies. Carefully read these guidelines and comply with MetLife’s Code of Business Ethics, Equal Employment Opportunity and Anti-Harassment Policy, Global Privacy Policy, and other applicable policies. Also, take care to understand and comply with the social media platform terms of service.

Be Safe and Secure

Protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. Follow MetLife security standards. Adhere to policy requirements in the MetLife IT security policies and MetLife’s Using and Protecting Technology and Information Policy to protect MetLife information and information assets.

Use caution when engaging in content shared on social media and digital properties. Clicking on or downloading materials from links distributed through phishing attempts could install malware, viruses, infectious code intended to damage, interfere with, dismantle, suspend access or infiltrate your computer and infect other systems. Always use strong and protected passwords. Never share your passwords. The use of a MetLife email address is use of MetLife’s Information System and must adhere to the usage policy.

Acceptable Use

I.  Personal social media activities must not interfere with your job responsibilities or commitments. Do not use your personal social media accounts to conduct your work or to advertise, sell or service MetLife products and services. If you want to use social media for MetLife-associated business, contact your manager for guidance. Use good judgement and transparency when you post and think about the consequences of what you are posting. You are responsible for anything you write or do online. Be respectful to your followers, MetLife, its business partners, and its Employees.[CD1]

Company’s Right to Monitor

Remember, when you’re using MetLife property, equipment, and technology (like computers and phone lines), you don’t have any expectation of privacy. MetLife reserves the right to monitor social media for the purpose of protecting its interests and to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, or policies.

Consequences of Policy Violations

Violations of this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment and/or legal action by MetLife, to the extent permitted by law.

Employees are encouraged to flag and report any activity that violates this policy. If you see something, say something. Raise your concerns to Compliance at askcompliance@metlife.com, Employee Relations (EmployeeRelations@metlife.com or 1-877-843-3711).

Market-Specific Social Media Rules

Markets outside the United States may have local policies and regulations covering social media. In such circumstances the local policies and any applicable local law will govern to the extent they conflict with the guidance set forth in this policy. If you have any questions, please contact your local marketing partners or Compliance.

Discussing your Employment

Nothing in this policy is intended to or should be construed as preventing or discouraging you from using social media to discuss your working conditions or the terms and conditions of your employment, or to interfere with any other legal rights, including those under the National Labor Relations Act.

Questions?

Remember, if you have any specific questions around social media or want to learn more, contact your marketing partners or Compliance.