Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to our FAQ page, where you can find answers to common questions about our services and solutions. We encourage you to explore the information provided to enhance your understanding and make informed decisions.
Social Media Screening
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our services and processes.
Social Media Screening is the process of analysing a candidate’s or employee’s publicly available digital footprint and behaviour across social platforms, blogs, forums, and other online spaces. At Farosian, our Social Media Screening solution provides businesses with actionable unbiased insights to identify risk signals, reputational concerns, cultural fit, and positive attributes - helping organisations make better, safer, and more informed decisions.
Social Media Screening delivers measurable value across multiple business areas:
HR & Background Screening
- Detect high-risk behaviours before hiring, proactively improving quality of hire.
- Identify candidates that align with company culture and values.
- Highlight high-potential employees to improve retention.
- Reduce disciplinary incidents and customer complaints.
- Increase overall productivity and workplace inclusivity.
- Support ongoing employee monitoring where required.
Recruitment
- Shortlist high-quality candidates faster.
- Improve quality of hire rates.
- Reduce time-to-fill positions and cost-per-hire.
- Minimise legal liability and prevent negligent hiring claims.
- Protect brand reputation through informed hiring decisions.
Risk & Compliance
- Detect fraudulent or suspicious behaviour.
- Identify conflicts of interest or untoward relationships (suppliers, procurement).
- Mitigate risks of IP theft or insider threats.
- Support compliance with industry-specific regulations.
- Conduct forensic investigations.
Yes. Farosian only evaluates publicly available online information, never private content. All screening is performed in compliance with POPIA, GDPR, FCRA, and other international data privacy laws. Consent is always obtained, before an investigation/screening is conducted.
Outsourcing ensures that screening is impartial, unbiased, and compliant. Internal screening introduces risks of unconscious bias (e.g., race, gender, religion) and increases litigation exposure. Farosian, as a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA)-compliant provider, ensures that all screenings are performed with fair hiring practices, data governance controls, and standardised reporting, helping you remain compliant.
Farosian screens across all major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. We also capture open-source data across forums, blogs, news mentions and +250 smaller social media platforms. Private peer-to-peer messaging apps and dating platforms are not included in our scope.
Farosian offers four report tiers:
- Basic – Quick risk insights.
- Standard – Expanded behavioural and reputational checks.
- Full – Comprehensive assessment with positive and negative indicators.
- Corporate High-Profile – Tailored due diligence for executives, senior hires, and public positions. Corporate High-Profile reports can be tailored for digital forensic investigations.
Reports cover both red flags and positive indicators.
Risk categories include:
- Hate speech, discriminatory content, harassment.
- Violence, extremism, criminal activity.
- Fraud, theft, or reputational damage indicators.
- Substance abuse or inappropriate content.
Positive indicators may include:
- Leadership potential.
- Community involvement and advocacy.
- Thought leadership or professional brand-building.
Farosian offers historical analysis depending on local laws. For South African clients, full historical reviews are available. In other regions, the timeframe is adapted to comply with jurisdiction-specific regulations.
Yes. Farosian operates on a channel partner model, enabling background screening providers, CRAs, and other compliance organisations to resell white-labelled reports as part of their service offering. We also offer comprehensive customer support to assist in the sales and marketing of the solution.
Reports can be requested via our contact page or by emailing info@farosian.co.za. Pricing is volume-based.
Social Media Screening is now considered a best practice in pre-employment background checks, alongside criminal record checks, credit checks, and reference checks. As part of a holistic background screening strategy, it provides insights into behaviours and risks that traditional checks may miss, helping organisations improve quality of hire, compliance, and workforce integrity.
Yes, we encourage you to book a demo to explore our services. Our team will guide you through the features and benefits. Schedule a session at your convenience to see how we can help.
Digital Risk Analysis
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our supporting solutions.
Farosian’s Digital Risk Analysis is a form of alternative data intelligence derived from publicly available digital footprints; blogs, forums, +250 social media networks, and other online platforms. It provides fast, predictive risk signals about individuals’ online behaviours, sentiment, and digital footprint. This enables enhanced risk assessments, fraud detection, and customer insights beyond traditional data sources.
Traditional data (e.g., credit bureau records, financial histories, and KYC documentation) captures past financial behaviour. In contrast, Digital Risk Analysis uncovers emerging risks and behavioural trends by analysing people’s digital presence. This provides an early-warning system for fraud, delinquency, or reputational issues - insights often invisible in conventional datasets.
- Credit underwriting & thin-file scoring – Extend access to credit for thin-file or credit-invisible populations using online behavioural insights.
- Fraud prevention & identity verification – Detect inconsistencies between declared identity and digital footprint.
- Customer segmentation & marketing – Profile customers more accurately based on digital engagement, influence, and network reach.
- Workforce screening & due diligence – Identify reputational risks, affiliations, and red flags in pre-employment or vendor checks.
- Portfolio monitoring – Regularly assess existing customers for early signs of default or fraud.
Access is available via secure API integration or through our cloud-based dashboard. Data can be consumed in batch mode or as single requests, depending on your organisation’s workflow and compliance needs.
Pricing is volume-based, calculated according to the number of individuals processed. Please contact Farosian for a tailored quote based on your expected usage volumes.
Yes. All insights are derived from publicly available data and processed in line with regulations such as GDPR, POPIA, and FCRA. We apply rigorous governance, anonymisation, and compliance frameworks to ensure full regulatory alignment.
- Financial services – Banks, insurers, and fintechs can improve credit risk assessment and expand financial inclusion.
- Gig economy & workforce platforms – Reduce fraud, increase customer safety, and improve quality of hire.
- Real estate & property – Strengthen tenant risk screening and compliance.
- Corporate compliance & due diligence – Support investigations, vendor checks, and M&A risk analysis.
Farosian’s Digital Risk Analysis provides leading indicators of risk by correlating online behaviours with default rates, fraud likelihood, and reputational damage. While not a replacement for financial data, it acts as a powerful enrichment layer that significantly improves predictive accuracy.
Yes. Farosian enables ongoing monitoring of digital footprints to track changes in behaviour, emerging threats, and new risk signals - ensuring organisations remain proactive rather than reactive.
Social Media Literacy Training
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our business partnerships, job vacancies and more.
The Social & Digital Media Literacy Training literally covers all things social media related. We look into social media history, do’s and don’ts, legalities, privacy settings and so much more. You can find a detailed breakdown here.
The course only takes around 2 hours to complete.
Get in touch for a detailed breakdown of the pricing.
You get an official personalised certificate of completion.
Our system is multi-browser compliant and does not require plugins.
All registered administrators may have access to manage and monitor their team’s classroom activity. Administrators are also provided with competence and gap analysis to assist your team where they may need it.
Full reports are available for download and may be exported to a third-party system, which includes HR software.
Get in touch with us now to book a free internal audit. This helps identify strengths and weaknesses within an organisation to mitigate risk.
The full course uses between 550mb and 1.2gb to complete, dependent on whether the user needs to go back and revise certain sections or not.
No, the training is for individuals, students, and businesses alike!
Yes, Farosian offers white-label options. Get in touch.
Social Media Policy Design
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our services and processes.
A social media policy often forms part of another policy such as a marketing policy. However, due to the nature of social and digital media and the massive role it plays in our day and age, it is essential for businesses to have a stand-alone social media policy in place.
A social media policy serves as a guide for employees on how to manage their online activities. These are put in place to protect an organisation. This ensures that there are actions in place to handle situations that will arise in the future.
Farosian policies are completely tailor-made, and customised to suit your unique business needs. Every business is different, and therefore cannot all be expected to follow the same policy guidelines.
No, a social media policy is a structured document which guides employees on how to manage their social media profiles and behave online. It does not by any means restrict what you can do online.
Due to the fact the Farosian policies are customised, tailor-made solutions, there are a number of factors involved, and therefore the price is dependent on a number of factors. Contact us for a quote.
This is dependent on a number of factors. Contact us for a free consultation.
Still have questions?
We’d love to hear from you! Whether you have a pressing question or simply feel like a chat, don’t hesitate to reach out to us by email.
