4.6 Social media
Due to the public nature of social media, and your profile as a local authority member, members of the public may automatically assume that you are commenting in your capacity as an elected politician in anything you post, publish or share online. As such, it is likely that the Code will apply to your conduct.
When deciding if an account is truly private, consider your followers and why they follow you. If any are unknown to you or include organisations such as your political party, it is likely they follow you as a councillor. The Code may still apply even if you rename an account for campaigning purposes (for example, from ‘@CllrX’ to ‘XforYTown’) while keeping the same content and followers.
The conduct expected of you in a digital medium is no different from the conduct expected in other forms of communication, such as face‑to‑face meetings and letters. Before commenting or posting, you should ask yourself whether:
- you understand the immediate and permanent nature of any comment or post you are about to make, and that you will have no control over the extent to which it is shared and by whom
- you would make that comment or post in person, face-to-face
- you have such conviction in what you are about to share that you would be prepared to justify it if challenged at a later date
- you fully understand that even if you delete your post, it may have been captured in a screenshot or otherwise retained, including through automatic online caching, and that fully deleting content once shared online is almost impossible.
You should always consider whether you need to respond to a comment made about you or posted on your page, and whether it is appropriate or helpful to do so. Sometimes people will say unpleasant things for the sake of it and people in public life can be singled out for unwarranted abuse. You are entitled to engage with members of the public online and correct false information. However, if someone is being abusive, offensive or sarcastic, you should consider whether there is any value in engaging.
The Standards Commission has produced an Advice Note for Councillors on the Use of Social Media.
Activity 4 Social media conduct
A former councillor has posted false, rude and disparaging comments about you on Facebook. A constituent, who has seen these, posts a comment demanding that you respond. Another constituent posts a comment supporting you.
What can you do?
Respond immediately with a strongly worded rebuttal so that people know the truth.
Answer
You may choose to post information correcting false accusations but you should avoid getting drawn into an exchange of personal insults. A strongly worded rebuttal risks breaching the Code if it becomes disrespectful or abusive.
Take your time to consider whether it would be helpful to react at all.
Answer
You can correct statements and explain why they are incorrect, but you may wish to consider whether responding would draw further attention to the comments or escalate the situation.
Respond to the first constituent, explaining why the comments are false and outlining your thoughts about the former councillor.
Answer
The Code does not require you to respond to the constituent. It is your choice whether to reply. You may wish to take advice about whether, and how, to respond. Any reply must be polite and factual. You could risk breaching the Code if you are disrespectful towards the constituent or about the former councillor.
Repost the constituent’s supportive comment to show you have public backing.
Answer
You could choose to do this, but you should be careful. Reposting the comment may be perceived as endorsing not only that comment, but also any other views the constituent has expressed on their account.
4.5 Courtesy and respect
