The Council has several social media outlets, which we invite the public to follow us on.
Most online communities have their own rules and guidelines, which we will always follow.
We reserve the right to remove any contributions in any format (such as comments, videos, images, GIFs, attachments, links, emojis) and block those responsible if they break the guidelines of the relevant community, or do not comply with any of the following rules:
- Comments and posts must not be unlawful, libellous, harassing, discriminatory, defamatory, threatening and/or obscene.
- Comments must not incite or consist of hate crime*
- Content for which you do not own the copyright must not be copied from elsewhere
- Do not post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once (also called ‘spamming’)
- controversial, irrelevant and off topic, otherwise known as 'trolling'
- Posts and comments must not include your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as contact details
- Posts and comments must not advertise products or services
- Do not impersonate someone else.
We reserve the right to modify or update these guidelines at any time without notice.
*https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/hate-crime
Dealing with misinformation or harmful content
We aim to share information on our social media channels that is accurate and useful. We will work to ensure that all information we share on our social media channels is correct at time of posting, all posts are subject to editing and updating to make sure we continue to share accurate information.
Comments, links or other content posted on any of our channels with the intent of spreading misleading or false information will be removed and the author banned from that channel.
Pre-election period
The Council itself, as opposed to its political administration, must be politically neutral in its communications. Please do not use any of our pages to promote party political messages or other content.
The Council will remove any comments that, in its view, may compromise its obligation to maintain political neutrality.
Our approach to connections on social media
The Council may choose to 'follow', 'like' or otherwise establish connections with other organisations and individuals using social media. This is so we can maintain contact with what other social media users are saying and, where appropriate, share their content.
The Council does not implicitly or explicitly endorse any individual or organisation merely by virtue of creating a social media connection, regardless of the terms used by social media providers such as 'follow' or 'like'. This means the Council will maintain social media connections with organisations that are critical of it and/or have opposing views. Nor does the Council hold any responsibility for the content of such profiles.
Removal
Once connected, the Council will not remove a profile from its network unless there is some over-riding reason to do so, e.g. because it poses a significant and material risk to the Council's reputation and credibility, or a significant and material breach of the Council's obligations to maintain political neutrality.
It is not possible to be prescriptive on what would pose such a threat and each case will need to be consider on its own merits.
Contacting us via social media
We do not have systems in place to continuously monitor all social media channels and do not currently accept customer queries, reports and notifications via social media. You should contact the Council through the appropriate section of the website.
Please note that unless stated otherwise the views/comments given on any of our social media sites may not necessarily reflect the views of Bury Council.