29 Mar Social Media For Shabbos
An interesting article raised the question of whether you may schedule
e-mails or social media updates to occur on Shabbos. For example, I
can post to my website and schedule the essay to appear on Friday
night. Within an hour of that essay’s publication, a third-party
application Tweets the essays’s title, first few words and link to my
personal Twitter account. And if I could ever get the technology to
work properly, it would also post a link to my Facebook account. The
next morning, at 5am on Shabbos, the application sends an e-mail of
the full text of that essay to this website’s distribution list. Am I
allowed to schedule all of this to happen on Shabbos?
The following are my tentative thoughts to begin discussion. As
always, ask your rabbi and don’t follow what you read online. In all
this discussion, we must keep in mind that at nearly all hours of the
day, it is not Shabbos somewhere in the world. Someone reading the
essay or Tweet need not be violating Shabbos. For that matter, a
gentile, who is not obligated to observe Shabbos, may also read it.
I. Scheduling
In the above example, some of the computer functions happen on Friday
and some on Shabbos. The essay is actually filed on Friday with an
exact date and time of publication. If someone accesses the website
before the publication time, the computer holds back the post. After
the publication time, it shows the post. Nothing really changes on
Shabbos.
However, the social media functions happen on Shabbos. The third-party
application learns about the post on Shabbos, grabs the information,
submits it to Twitter and Facebook, compiles it into an e-mail and
sends it out. Similarly, if I use an e-mail application that allows me
to schedule an e-mail for Shabbos, it waits until the right time and
then sends the e-mail out on Shabbos.
Truthfully, though, when an essay appears on Shabbos it is captured by
other third-party applications and registered in search engines.
However, I do not control any of those applications and suggest that I
am not liable for their activity.
II. Server Activity
Therefore, I suggest that scheduling an essay for Shabbos does not
cause any problem of computer activity. However, the social media
actions may. As we discussed in an earlier post, sec. V, sending an
e-mail on Shabbos, which becomes permanently stored on a server, may
be biblically forbidden (under the labor ofboneh). R. Shlomo Zalman
Auerbach forbade it regarding a floppy disk and others debate whether
this ruling also applies to archives on servers.
The third-party application’s action is, in theory, indirect (gerama).
I am just posting to my website. The application then, on its own,
grabs that information and submits it to social media platforms.
However, I arranged these functions and want it to perform them. This
is the normal way of doing things. Perhaps, then, this is not gerama
but the normal course of business (see here).
If Tweeting or sending an e-mail is biblically forbidden, then the
case we are discussing would be comparable to setting a fax machine on
a timer so it sends a fax on Shabbos. Piskei Teshuvos (Shabbos vol. 1,
242:7; vol. 2, 263:46) forbids such an action. However, the widespread
custom is certainly to allow setting timers before to schedule
forbidden activities to occur on Shabbos provided they do not generate
noise or otherwise interfere with the Shabbos atmosphere. I suggest
that the above activities qualify.
III. Appearances
The final issue is one of maris ayin. While all observers are required
to judge favorably and assume you did not violate any prohibitions,
you are still obligated to avoid situations in which you appear to
transgress Torah laws. The definition of precisely what this entails
remains fuzzy. I was taught that it depends on what the average
onlooker will initially think.
In the case of blogging or Tweeting on Shabbos, I suspect that we are
still at the point where observers will suspect you of violating
Shabbos. When people turn on their computers after Shabbos and see
your updates that appeared on Shabbos, they will think you posted them
on Shabbos. Scheduling is still a trick of the trade and
insufficiently well known. However, disclaimers explaining the
situation suffice.
IV. Business
All of the above refers to personal usage. If you are scheduling
business updates for Shabbos, you run into the potential problem of
Shabbason. Piskei Teshuvos (Shabbos vol. 2, 222:1) quotes the Chelkas
Ya’akovwho rules that allowing your business to run on Shabbos, even
if you are not personally involved, entails a lack of resting. Your
work needs to stop on Shabbos (see Rashi on Ex. 20:9 and Ramban on
Lev. 23:24).
What is business? Blogs with advertisements are paid every time the
blog is accessed. Is a Tweet directing readers to my website (if it
had ads) considered business? Quite possibly.
V. Tentative Conclusion
Therefore, my initial reaction is that scheduling blog posts, Tweets,
e-mails, etc. should only be done if it is for personal rather than
business use and should include a disclaimer stating that it was
scheduled before Shabbos.