Social media: Terms of use for external audiences

When using the department’s social media platforms, you agree to comply with our terms of use as outlined below.

1. We welcome your comments on the department’s social media, and ask that you show courtesy, respect and do not use the platforms to abuse, provide offensive or inappropriate content for unlawful purposes.
2. To preserve the integrity of the department’s decision making, comments will not be provided on any aspects of pending, current or finalised matters before the courts.
3. Information posted on our sites is not intended to be legal advice and should not be used as such.
4. The department asks that you protect your own personal privacy and that of others by not including personal information of yourself or of others to the page (for example, names, email addresses, private addresses or phone numbers).
5. Opinions or views expressed on the department’s social media sites by people external to the department represent the thoughts of individual bloggers and online communities, and not the department.
6. While the department makes reasonable efforts to monitor and/or moderate content posted on its social media platforms, we cannot always respond in real-time. The department’s social media platforms are monitored during business hours and responses to comments will only be provided during business hours (excluding public holidays).
7. The department reserves the sole right to review, hide or delete any comments it deems inappropriate. Comments including, but not limited to, the following may be deleted or hidden:
   1. abusive or hurtful comments about a blogger, another participant or departmental employees, which may include:
      1. inappropriate or discriminatory language (e.g. profanity, racial, ethnic, disability, age, religion or gender-based)
      2. personal attacks or defamatory statements or comments (e.g. negative personal or untrue comments about a person)
   2. views that impersonate or falsely represent any other person or falsely state or misrepresent affiliation with a person or entity;
   3. irrelevant and redundant comments to the topic being discussed (e.g. promotion of events, groups, websites, organisations and programs not related to or affiliated with the department)
   4. comments that violate the privacy of departmental staff, members, clients or stakeholders
   5. details relating to lodging complaints, seeking legal advice or discussing any matters brought to the department that are pending, current or finalised or would break the department’s non-publication of orders;
   6. content that may or would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability, or that otherwise violates any local, provincial, national or international law or regulation in the world (or encourage others to do so).
8. Persistent inappropriate use of the department’s social media platforms will lead to the user being blocked from the department’s platforms, and/or reported to the platforms Administrator for breach of their terms of use.
9. Links from the department’s social media sites to other websites are provided as a guide only and does not constitute endorsement of those sites by the department and as such we are not responsible for the content of external websites.
10. By submitting content to the department’s social media platforms, you understand and acknowledge that this information is available to the public and is considered a public record.
11. The department makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents on its social media platforms and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in their content. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including, but not limited to, the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, is given with respect to the contents of social media or its links to other online resources.

Download a copy of our Social media: Terms of use (PDF , 183.9 KB)