Social Media Community Policy
Stratford District Council’s social media accounts aim to keep you up to date on the work we’re doing in the community.
You’re welcome to share your ideas and comments, but please remember to respect the rights, dignity and property of others. By engaging with us on our social media channels, you’re agreeing to follow the guidelines set out below:
Be kind and courteous
We love to hear from you and welcome questions, comments, opinions and constructive feedback. Please be respectful at all times – we won’t tolerate harassment, abuse or threats of any kind. Specifically, we will not tolerate:
- Abuse, harassment, stalking, threats or attacks
- Defamatory, offensive, obscene, violent or vulgar content
- Hateful language targeting race/ethnicity, age, colour, creed, religion, gender, sexual preference or orientation, nationality or political beliefs
- Sexually explicit or pornographic material
- Fraudulent, deceptive, misleading or unlawful behaviour
- References to criminal or illegal activity
- Violations of any intellectual property rights
- Spamming in nature
- Viruses or programs that could damage the operation of other people’s computers
- Commercial solicitations or solicitation of donations
Social networks are public
Our Facebook page is a public page where anyone can participate. We cannot be responsible for views expressed other than our own.
Protect personal information
DO NOT post personal information. Stratford District Council may remove any reference to the identity of a participant or any other person from the social media channel, if the disclosed information could be used to identify or locate a person, or that could otherwise be deemed to constitute an invasion of privacy.
Stay on topic
Your comments should be related to the topic of the post. We reserve the right to delete off-topic comments.
Make sure it’s yours
Only post content if you have the proper permission from its rightful owners. Copyrighted and trademarked material and other intellectual property will be removed.
License to use your content
By posting and commenting on the Stratford District Councils social media pages, you grant us the right to freely use or reproduce your content.
Breach of guidelines
We reserve the right to remove any comments or content that doesn’t adhere to these guidelines or with any other applicable Terms and Conditions, rules, or laws. We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as ban users who do not follow these guidelines. We also reserve the right to send any comments to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law.
Third-party websites
Stratford District Council is not responsible for and does not endorse third-party websites or content that may be linked to from our social networking websites. Review the privacy and security practices, and policies of all third-party websites that you visit.
Disclaimer
Stratford District Council reserves the right to change, remove, or deny access to the content on our pages and is not responsible for any consequences you may experience as a result.
During an Election Period
Stratford District Council (SDC) resources must only be used for SDC purposes, not for candidates election campaigns.
- These resources include SDC social media pages. SDC social media channels must remain politically neutral at all times.
- We will promote elections and the importance of voting, but will not associate posts with any individual candidates.
- Any candidates must follow SDC social media guidelines and may not use SDC channels for campaigning.
- Candidates cannot post, comment, rate, review, check-in or tag SDC's social media channels during the election period - any candidate posts and activity (including candidacy of third parties) on SDC social media channels will be removed.
- SDC will remove any social media post from any person posting (whether positive or negative) referencing a candidate’s nomination, intention to run for Council, or election campaign.
- SDC's social media accounts will not follow any candidates.
- Candidates can share SDC posts on their private channels and comment there.
- In 2025 the election period runs from Friday 4 July – end of day Saturday 11 October (Election Day).
Contact us
If you find content on this page which you believe breaches these guidelines please let us know by emailing communications@stratford.govt.nz