Acceptable use policies for citizens
Public Library Services of South Australia
Libraries of SA (the South Australian Public Library Network) uses two social media applications: Facebook and Twitter. This is its AUP (Libraries of SA, n.d.):
PLS welcome comments on its Twitter account and Facebook page and suggest that you apply common sense when making them. If you wouldn’t say or show it at work or school, then we recommend you don’t post it on this Page. Comments, links, photos and videos deemed inappropriate will be deleted.
We are committed to maintaining your privacy and ask that you respect the privacy of others when creating posts. Inflammatory, defamatory, commercial, spam, overtly party political, politically sensitive and comments encouraging activities illegal in Australia or that are detected as transgressing copyright or intellectual property laws will be deleted.
PLS strives to review the content of these accounts on a regular basis. However, there may be times when offensive comments (that do not meet the Acceptable use policy) appear on these pages before they can be removed. You can also visit Facebook’s terms here and Twitter’s terms here.
Department of Human Services, Australian Government
The Department of Human Services of Australia sets out its policy on its social media accounts on its website (Dept of Human Services, n.d.):
Facebook/Twitter Acceptable Use Policy
This user policy is in addition to any user policy or terms and conditions imposed by the Facebook/Twitter host.
As a user of the Department of Human Services’ Facebook/Twitter pages you may express your views, comments, ideas, insights, and criticisms about the department.
At the same time, you should show courtesy and respect to others and must not use the wall to abuse others, expose others to offensive or inappropriate content, or for any unlawful purpose.
Please be aware that the department may change this policy at any time.
When using the Facebook wall, please ensure that you:
do protect your personal privacy and that of others by not including personal information of either yourself or of others in your posts to the wall (for example, names, email addresses, private addresses or phone numbers)
do represent your own views and not impersonate or falsely represent any other person
do not be abusive, harass or threaten others
do not make defamatory or libellous comments
do not use insulting, provocative or hateful language
do not use obscene or offensive language
do not post material to the wall that infringes the intellectual property rights of others
do not post multiple versions of the same view to the wall or make excessive postings on a particular issue
do not promote commercial interests in your posts to the wall
do not include internet addresses or links to websites, or any email addresses in your post to the wall
do not make unproven or unsupported accusations against individuals or organisations
do not encourage conduct that may or would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability, or that otherwise violates any local, provincial, national or international law or regulation anywhere in the world
do not incite hatred on the basis of any personal characteristic, including on the basis of race, gender, marital or domestic status, disability, sexuality or age
do not identify matters that are currently the subject of legal proceedings or would break a court’s non-publication order
do not make comments that are irrelevant to the topic being discussed.
The Department of Human Services reserves the right to enforce this Acceptable Use Policy at its discretion. The department may remove any posted messages that it considers to be in breach of this policy. The department may also block or delete you as a user if it considers that that you have breached this policy.
If you have any questions about this policy, please email [email protected]
Facebook/Twitter privacy statement
The Department of Human Services records any information posted to the department’s Facebook/Twitter page and uses that information for the purpose of administering its Facebook/Twitter page and considering and/or addressing any comments made.
No attempt will be made to further identify individuals except where authorised or required by law. The department is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of Facebook/Twitter or any linked websites.