Social Media Policy
Terms of use
When you view, post or comment on, or use in any way our social media, you must comply with these terms of use. Please read the terms of use carefully before any use or engagement with the Office’s social media accounts. If you do not accept these Terms of Use, you must refrain from using, or engaging with the Office’s social media accounts.
These Terms of Use may be modified at any time. It is your responsibility to keep up to date with modifications to the Terms of Use. If you continue to participate in the Office’s social media following any modification, you will be considered to have accepted the modified Terms of Use.
By choosing to use or engage with the Office’s social media accounts, you agree to:
- comply with the terms of use of the platform (such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube)
- treat other people using the platforms with respect and courtesy
- You also agree not to post any material that:
- is offensive, obscene, vulgar or violent
- vilifies or discriminates against any particular gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or domestic status, race or ethnicity, criminal record or political opinion
- is fraudulent, deceptive or misleading including not impersonating or falsely representing any other person or organisation
- you do not have a legal right to post (e.g. material that infringes the copyright)
- advertises, offers or promotes anything of a commercial nature (e.g. that may breach the Spam Act 2003)
would be illegal or unlawful to post
You must also not:
- post any personal information (e.g. names, e-mail or private addresses, phone numbers, photographs) relating to yourself or anyone else
- introduce any virus or other form of malicious code into the social media channels
- deliberately disrupt discussions (e.g. trolling)
- post irrelevant or excessively long material
- use our channels to defame, libel, insult, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or attack anyone
If you breach these Terms of Use we may:
- remove or refuse to post any material you have submitted
- suspend or permanently block you from using our social media channels
- report your conduct to the owner of the relevant social media platform and to any appropriate law enforcement authorities
- take any other action, including legal action, which we consider to be appropriate
These actions are at our discretion.
Moderation policy
Responding to comments
We aren’t always able to respond to individual comments or questions. If a question, theme or topic is raised frequently, we will aim to provide an answer.
Removing content
Spam and comments that breach these Terms of Use will be removed.
We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that we identify, moderate and remove any inappropriate materials.
We use a post-moderation process, which means most comments are published immediately and then reviewed after publication to ensure compliance with these Terms of Use. We also use, where available, in-built platform filters to automatically block posts containing offensive or obscene keywords from publication.
Disclaimer
Views expressed on our social media pages by anyone other than us are not our views and we do not endorse or support them and disclaim all liability for those views, including with respect to their accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness.
The information we post on our social media pages is general in nature and is not intended to serve as specific advice. How information applies to you will depend on your personal situation. We take care to ensure our information is accurate when posting, but we cannot guarantee its accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness.
We may link to external websites, pages, platforms and applications (sites) for your convenience. Any links available through our social media pages regarding entities, organisations, products or services do not constitute our endorsement of or affiliation with those entities, organisations products or services. We do not control and are in no way responsible for external sites, including the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of their material or any related entities, organisations, products or services.
Privacy statement
The Office is subject to the obligations imposed by the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 and will collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information in accordance with those Principles.
The Office’s Privacy Policy outlines how the Office collects, uses and discloses personal information, how an individual may access and correct any personal information, how to make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how any complaint will be dealt with.
By providing your personal information, including any sensitive information, to the Office’s social media accounts, you provide consent for the Office to collect and use your personal information for operational and administrative purposes including displaying content, administering its social media accounts, addressing any comments made and/or internal reporting. Any personal information you provide through participating in the Office’s social media accounts will not be used for any other purpose by the Office.
We will not identify individuals who have posted on our website or social media channels except where authorised or required by law.
Social media platforms are controlled and operated by third parties and are not government websites or applications. Please be mindful about disclosing personal information on our social media pages, as they are public and any post you make may be visible to others.
The Office is not responsible for the privacy practices of third-parties who may access information you choose to allow to be displayed.
We have made a PDF version of this policy for you to download.