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REGION OF QUEENS MUNICIPALITY
Operational Policy No. 83
Social Media Policy
General Statement of Policy
It shall be the policy of the Region of Queens Municipality ("Municipality") to provide
clarity and direction respecting the use of social media for employees, volunteers and
elected officials.
Policy Objectives
1. To establish a policy that promotes municipal transparency and accountability to
the public; and,
2. Provides clarity to employees, volunteers and elected officials with respect to
their role representing the Municipality, and their interactions and representations
on social media.
Policy Directions
Municipality's Social Media Accounts and Postings
1. The creation and administration of social media sites, including but not limited to,
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, representing the Municipality
must be authorized in advance by the Chief Administrative Officer ("CAO").
2. Operation and administration of the Municipality's social media accounts and
postings will be delegated by the CAO to the Communications Officer outlined in
the Communications Strategy. Only persons authorized per the Communications
Strategy shall post on behalf of the Municipality on any social media medium.
Further, only content approved by the official spokesperson or their delegate
shall be posted on behalf of the Municipality.
3. When the Municipality uses a social media site which allows public comments
and posts, the following content will not be permitted:
-
Comments/posts not related to a posted article/topic/information;
-
Business solicitation;
-
Profane or inappropriate language;
-
Content considered to be defamatory, disparaging, disrespectful or
insulting to individuals, including municipal staff or representatives;
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-
Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis
of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with
regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability,
sexual orientation or any other prohibited ground of discrimination under
the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act;
-
Sexual content or links to sexual content;
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Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity; and
-
Any content deemed inappropriate by the Municipality.
The Municipality reserves the right to monitor its social media sites and remove
any content. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, if the Municipality
finds any content on its social media site that offends section 3 herein, it will
remove the content, or contact the appropriate administrator or network and
request the content be removed.
4. User comments and messages posted to official social networking sites are
considered transitory records and will not be kept as a permanent record by the
Municipality.
Use of any Social Media
5. Social Media sites are public, regardless of the privacy settings. As such, any
postings (content, statements, pictures or comments, etc.) by an employee,
volunteer or elected official, regardless of whether posted on Municipality sites or
otherwise, could negatively impact the Municipality, its reputation, workplace,
other employees, partners/vendors or its customers/clients.
Employees, volunteers and elected officials are required to comply with the
following guidelines when making posts or comments on any social media site,
regardless of whether their social media interactions are during or outside of
work hours:
a. Conduct and represent themselves professionally;
b. Posts, pictures, comments or any content involving the following will not
be tolerated:
i. Proprietary and confidential municipal information, including internal
information and activities, confidential information of municipal
employees, businesses partners, customers or clients;
ii. Inappropriate content, including harassing, bulling, intimidating and
discriminatory content or sexual innuendos regarding employees,
management, volunteers, Council members or other elected
officials, customers/ clients, corresponding organizations or
vendors; and
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iii. Defamatory, derogatory or disparaging statements regarding the
Municipality its employees, management, volunteers, Council
members
or
other
elected
officials,
customers/clients,
corresponding organizations, or vendors.
c. No employee, volunteer or Council member shall purport to speak or post
on behalf of the Municipality, unless they have received the authorization
to do so, as outlined in this policy and the Communication Strategy (as
amended from time to time).
d. Unless acting as the official or authorized spokesperson, the comments or
postings of staff or elected officials do not represent the Municipality;
however, all staff, volunteers and elected officials shall comply with this
policy.
6. The use of social media in the workplace must not have a negative impact on
that employee's productivity or efficiency, or the productivity or efficiency of
others in the workplace.
7. Any communications sent over the Municipality's networks and computers are
the Municipality's records. At any time without prior notice, the Municipality
reserves the right to examine and analyze email, personal file directories, internet
access logs, and any other information stored on the Municipalities computers.
Such examinations support external and internal investigations, assure
compliance with various policies, and assist in the management of information
systems. Employees, volunteers and elected officials should have no
expectation of privacy associated with the information they store in or send
through these systems, whether encrypted or not. Employees, volunteers or
elected officials using the Municipality's information systems and/or Internet
access should realize that their communications are not automatically protected
from viewing by third parties. Do not sent information over the Internet or
internally that is considered sensitive or private without encrypting the message.
8. The Municipality will adhere to all applicable legislation regarding privacy and
freedom of information, including but not limited to, the Freedom of Information
and Protection of Privacy Act. In addition, the Municipality's records may be
subject to subpoena by a court of competent jurisdiction. As such, employees,
volunteers and elected officials should be aware that personal and other
information contained in electronic correspondence (or printed versions thereof)
which are directed to the Municipality or other information contained on the
Municipality's networks and computers may be required to be disclosed under
legislation or pursuant to a subpoena from a court of competent jurisdiction. The
anonymity or confidentiality of the sender or author of any information contained
within the correspondence or otherwise contained on the Municipality's networks
and computers cannot be presumed or relied upon.
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Failure to Abide by Policy
9. Any employee who fails to follow this policy may be subject to disciplinary action,
up to and including termination of employment.
Any volunteer who fails to follow this policy, may face a restriction or removal
from volunteer roles, activities or opportunities.
Council members who fail to follow this this policy may be subject to corrective
action by Council in accordance with Policy 74 - Code of Conduct for members
of Council and Public Committee Members.
Approved by Council: June 13, 2017