Social Media House Rules

Dubbo Regional Council (DRC) values all our community members and online followers across its social media channels. With that in mind, we have set some House Rules for our social media channels to make sure the channels are positive and useful for our community. We ask that when contributing your views to social media channels, you create a safe environment by adhering to these house rules.

An overview of DRC owned or managed channels can be found on our dedicated webpage; All Social Channels

By using or posting on DRC social media channels, you are accepting the DRC House Rules. These house rules may be updated at any time without prior notice.

We have developed these rules for use of our social media channels to ensure they remain a positive experience for all members of our community.

Principles

DRC is committed to upholding and promoting the following principles of social media engagement:

  • Openness - Our social media platforms are places where anyone can share and discuss issues that are relevant to our Council and the community we represent and serve.
  • Relevance - We will ensure our social media platforms are kept up-to-date with
    informative content about our Council and our connection to our community.
  • Accuracy - The content we upload onto our social media platforms and any other social media platform will be a source of truth for our community and we will prioritise the need to correct inaccuracies when they occur.
  • Respect - Our social media platforms are safe spaces. We will uphold and promote the behavioural standards contained in this policy and our Council’s Code of Conduct when using our social media platforms and any other social media platform.

Monitoring and Moderating

DRC social media profiles are monitored and moderated within business hours listed on the respective channel.

We welcome your comments and questions on our social media channels and will reply if appropriate during Council’s service delivery times.

If you wish to submit a request or complaint related to Dubbo Regional Council, its staff or Councillors, please contact Council’s Customer Experience team; Contact Us.

Some platforms have moderation assist, therefore some commentary may be automatically hidden on occasion when inappropriate content is used by the author. This content will be reviewed by Council staff and moderated accordingly.

Appropriate and Inappropriate Content

We ask our DRC Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn communities to apply a commonsense approach when:

  • making comments or responding to posts
  • posting information to our wall, including photos and videos
  • commenting underneath a DRC post
  • tagging the DRC account in a post or tweet

We moderate our DRC social media pages, and anything deemed inappropriate could be ignored or moderated. If necessary Council may hide or delete content, or block repeat offenders in line with the Social Media Policy found at our webpage; A-Z Council Policies. Some platforms have moderation assist, therefore some commentary may be automatically hidden.

Inappropriate content includes information that is:

  • defamatory, offensive, humiliating, threatening or intimidating to council officials or members of the public;
  • contains profane language or is sexual in nature;
  • constitutes harassment and/or bullying within the meaning of the Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW, or is unlawfully discriminatory;
  • contains content about the Council, council officials, Councillors or members of the public that is misleading or deceptive;
  • breaches the privacy of council officials, Councillors or members of the public;
  • contains allegations of suspected breaches of the Council’s code of conduct or information about the consideration of a matter under the Procedures for the Administration of the Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW;
  • violates an order made by a court;
  • breaches copyright;
  • advertises, endorses or solicits commercial products or business;
  • constitutes spam; or would be in breach of the rules of the social media platform.

Breaches of the house rules will be notified in writing via direct message (DM) to the applicable social media platform that has been breached and applies to, in reference of, any individual, group or organisation.

If an account receives three warnings, they will be blocked on the third instance of breaching the house rules in line with the Social Media Policy, or blocking may occur without three warnings at the discretion of the Chief Executive Officer. If any action is taken against you or your contribution, you can request an appeal on a decision at the 'Request an Appeal on a Decision' section of this webpage.

Request an Appeal on a Decision

To request an appeal on a decision made by staff please contact council@dubbo.nsw.gov.au and ensure to include the following information in your email:

  • First name
  • Surname
  • Email address
  • Contact number
  • Identification of which platform (Facebook, Instagram etc) you are referring to
  • Identification of which account (@DubboRegionalCouncil etc) you are referring to
  • The URL of your user account
  • Information regarding the moderation concern including images if needed to support your message

If you wish to submit a complaint about DRC staff or a Councillor, please visit our dedicated webpage; Contact the Complaints Officer

Privacy

DRC does not endorse, and is not accountable for, any views expressed by third parties using the/any site.

When you use DRC social media pages, you are using an external site. You are therefore bound by their privacy principles of that site.

All external sites have respective privacy policies, which you may wish to familiarise yourself with.

For more information on how we collect, and use information, please read the DRC Privacy Management Plan Policy at our webpage; A-Z Council Policies

Record Keeping

We record all information posted to the DRC social media channels and use that information for:

  • administering the channels
  • record keeping
  • considering and/or addressing any comments made

No attempt will be made to further identify social media subscribers except where requested and authorised by law.

Last Edited: 15 Jul 2024

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