Liverpool City Council has adopted a revised Media Policy that is designed to tackle an increase in abusive, negative and inaccurate social media posts about Councillors and Council staff.
Liverpool City Council CEO Jason Breton said the new Policy governs conduct by Councillors, Council staff and the users of the Council’s social media platforms.
“In many ways, our expectations are the same as most community group Facebook pages – treat everyone with respect, especially when debating different points of view,” he said.
“Unlike other Councils that have different policies for different categories, Liverpool has combined them into one simple document, with the provisions largely based on the Office of Local Government’s model guidelines.”
Abuse and misinformation on social media platforms, including Facebook, has become a growing concern in Australia. A 2021 report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that 76% of Australians had encountered misinformation online, with Facebook being the most cited platform.
Similarly, the eSafety Commissioner has reported a rise in online abuse, linking it to increased anxiety, depression, and trauma.
“The new Media Policy takes a best practice approach as outlined in the Council Code of Conduct and clearly defines the roles, responsibilities, and standard of conduct expected from Council officials when engaging with traditional media and social media,” Mr Breton said.
The full media policy can be read here
The guide for posting and commenting on the Council’s social media platforms can be found here
A simple guide video can be found here
Background
Council undertook a thorough review of its former Media and Social Media Policies, which had been in place since 2020. The review included comparisons with the Media and Social Media policies of seven NSW Councils and the revised policy mirrors the NSW Office of Local Government (OLG) Model Media Policy and Social Media Policy, which provides a best-practice approach for Councils.
The Policy also includes guidelines for members of the public posting or commenting on Council’s Social Media platforms. The Social Media Interaction Guidelines set out the expectations of Council and community use on official Council Social Media channels and pages.
Councillors posting as Councillors on social media platforms are also covered by the new Policy.
Combining all three into the one Policy creates a unified approach to the guidelines and results in a more user-friendly document. The new Media Policy also lists the criteria considered to warrant a ‘Fact Check’ social media post in response to a false or misleading social media post. This has been done to publicly document the threshold required in the interests of transparency.
A section on photography has also been added to document the process and permissions required for taking and sharing photos and videos on Council communication channels.
