Social media policy
Introduction
Fareham Borough Council recognises the importance of social media and welcomes engagement with, and comments on, our social media content.
We recognise and value the right of individuals to express their views and engage in open discussion through social media. However, this right is accompanied by a responsibility to communicate respectfully and lawfully.
When interacting on Council-operated platforms, all users are expected to ensure that their contributions are appropriate and do not include language or content that is offensive, abusive, discriminatory, or unlawful. The use of profanity, personal attacks, or any content that may cause harm, distress, or breach legal standards will not be tolerated.
Removing or hiding comments
We welcome feedback and comments on our social media pages, but comments that contain profanities are automatically hidden by our filters. Comments are routinely removed or hidden if they:
- use swear words
- use language that is abusive, harassing and threatening
- use sexual imagery, sexual references or language that is sexually offensive
- attack or disparage anyone on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief or sex.
- use language that could be construed as unlawful, prejudicial to court proceedings, defamatory, harmful, libellous or profane.
- contain the same message or very similar messages more than once (spamming)
- contain off-topic, controversial or irrelevant messages (trolling)
- contain fake news
- publicise anyone's personal information, such as contact details
If comments of this type are persistently made by the same user, we will block that user from commenting on our page.
Social media and the law
Anyone posting a comment that is deemed unlawful in the UK will be blocked immediately and offending comments may be reported to the Police.
- It is a criminal offence under the Communications Act 2003
and related laws to post messages that are:
- Grossly offensive
- Indecent or obscene
- Menacing (threatening)
- It can also be illegal to:
- Send messages intended to cause distress or anxiety
- Use social media persistently to cause annoyance or anxiety
- UK law criminalises certain forms of hate speech, especially where it:
- Targets race, religion, or sexual orientation
- Intends or is likely to stir up hatred
- UK law does allow offensive opinions, but draws a line where content:
- Causes serious harm
- Becomes abusive, threatening, or hateful
- Crosses into criminal or civil liability
Use the following links to find out more:
Select communications offences and concerns over free speech - House of Lords Library
New offences under the Online Safety Act 2023
The Crown Prosecution Service's Communications Offences Guidance
Our social media channels
The Council has the following social media accounts:
- Facebook : Our Facebook page is called 'Fareham Borough Council' and our posts and comments will appear with that name. However, it is not always possible to join a group as an organisation, so on those occasions the Council operates under the personal name of Henry Cort. For transparency, we have stated this information in our Facebook story. Henry Cort does not have an email address and is not used for any other purpose than that stated above.
- Instagram
- X
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
- TikTok
The Communications team is responsible for all the Council's social media accounts. Each account is monitored Monday to Friday, within normal working hours.
Council social media posts
The Council uses the following rules when posting to our social media sites:
- We are civil, tasteful and relevant
- We do not post messages that are discriminatory, unlawful; prejudicial to court proceedings, abusive, harassing, defamatory, threatening, harmful, libellous, obscene, profane, or sexually or racially offensive. This includes comments directed at someone else, linking to inappropriate content or posting inappropriate images
- We do not swear
- We do not post content for which we do not own the copyright or have consent
- We do not publicise anyone's personal information, such as contact details
- We do not impersonate someone else
- We do not promote political parties or activities
- We follow the rules of the relevant social media website.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Council uses CoPilot for some tasks, such as providing alt text to describe images and to generate social media content. Any AI generated content is edited or amended as appropriate before publication.
Contacting us
We understand that not everyone uses or has access to social media. If you need to contact Fareham Borough Council, see our contact details for the ways that you can get in touch with us.