Social Media Terms of Use

Monitoring and Responding

The Township’s social media channels are monitored, and comments or questions are responded to, during regular business hours from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Communications Department is responsible for monitoring and responding during these hours. Questions or comments are acknowledged within two business day.
In the event of an emergency or a sensitive, high-profile issue, social media channels may be monitored, and posts may be published by the Communications Department outside regular business hours.

The Communications Department will follow the Social Media Response Chart (Appendix C) when deciding if a response to a comment is needed.

The Township will not monitor or respond to questions or comments about Township programs, services, decisions or policies on media websites, peoples’ blogs, community-run social media groups or pages, or other public forums.

Social Media Terms of Use

The Township invites community members to post, share, discuss and debate with focused, thoughtful comments and discussion, new initiative or upcoming events while treating each other with respect. The Township will not tolerate comments that include:

• Profane or inappropriate language;
• Posts or comments that share false, misleading, or inaccurate information will not be tolerated and may be removed;
• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, colour, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation;
• Content considered to be defamatory, disrespectful or insulting to Township staff or representatives
• Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
• Comments/posts not related to a posted article/topic/information;
• Business solicitation;
• Sexual content or links to sexual content;
• Information about any identifiable individual (including photographs of, or information about that individual, as well as views or opinions about that individual), unless the identifiable individual provided specific, written consent to the Township in advance;
• Any content deemed inappropriate by the Township of Russell.

Comments Guidelines

The Township supports respectful and constructive online engagement. Where appropriate, comments will be enabled on posts to support community dialogue on Township initiatives, events, and areas of public interest.

Comments will be moderated in accordance with the Township’s Terms of Use. The Township reserves the right to hide or remove any comments that infringe on those terms.

The comments may not be activated on all posts. This decision may be made in cases where there is a high likelihood that the discussion will lead to personal attacks or otherwise violate the standards noted above.
The intent of this measure is to maintain the integrity of the Township’s communications channels and ensure that online engagement remains respectful.

Where comments are not enabled, the Township will, where applicable, provide alternative contact information so that questions or feedback can be directed to the appropriate department.

Social Media Moderation

To ensure respectful and constructive discussions, the Township follows a structured approach for managing problematic content:

First Incident

• Any user who posts content in violation of these Terms of Use will have the comment deleted.
• A reminder of the Township’s Terms of Use will be sent to the user via private message, if the user allows private messages.
• The incident will be documented for monitoring purposes.

Second Incident

• Any repeated violation will result in the comment being deleted.
• A private message will be sent to the user, stating that any further violation will result in a temporary ban if the user allows private messages.
• The incident will be documented.

Repeated or Ongoing Issues

• For a third violation or persistent problems, the Communications Department, in consultation with the relevant Department Head and with the permission of the Director of Corporate Services, may remove access for the individual user for a six-month period.