Social media

Our social media policy and procedures

Acceptable use policy

We have several social media accounts that you can use to follow us and find out about our latest news and events.

Most online communities have their own rules and guidelines, which we will always follow. We reserve the right to remove any contributions that break the rules or guidelines of the relevant community.

We will also remove any contributions that are not civil, tasteful and relevant.

You must make sure that you do not:

  • post messages that are
    • unlawful
    • libellous
    • harassing
    • defamatory
    • abusive
    • threatening
    • harmful
    • obscene
    • profane
    • sexually oriented
    • racially offensive
    • swear
  • post content you have copied from elsewhere, for which you do not own the copyright
  • post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once, for example spamming
  • publicise your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as contact details
  • advertise products or services
  • impersonate someone else

Defamation

You must care not to make defamatory statements. In law defamation is a statement that lowers the reputation of a person or organisation in the eyes of a reasonable person.

By publishing such a statement we can both get into serious trouble. We will take down any statement that we think could be defamatory.

Political neutrality

The daily operations of Braintree District Council, as opposed to our political administration, must be politically neutral. This includes all our communications.

You cannot not use any of our pages to promote party political messages or other content.

We will remove any comments that, we think compromise our political neutrality.

Our approach to connections on social media

We may choose to follow, like or otherwise make connections with organisations and individuals using social media.

We do this so we can keep up to date with what other social media users are saying and share appropriate content.

Sometimes we will connect with users through direct messages or posting

Endorsement

We do not implicitly or explicitly endorse any individual or organisation just by creating a social media connection. This is regardless of the terms used by social media providers such as follow or like.

We will maintain social media connections with organisations that are critical of us or have opposing views. We do not hold any responsibility for the content of such profiles.

Removal

Once we have made a connection we will only remove a profile from our network if unless there is an over-riding reason. This could be because:

  • the connection poses a significant and material risk to our reputation and credibility
  • there is a significant and material breach of our obligations to maintain political neutrality

We cannot be prescriptive on what would pose such a threat and will consider each case on its own merits.

Contacting us via social media

Our responses to replies, comments and direct messages depend on the individual service. Even if we do not reply, we are listening and will act on or pass on your comments as appropriate. You may also like to contact the service or our Customer Service Team directly.

Unless we state otherwise, the views and comments on any of our social media sites do not necessarily reflect our views.

We do not intend the media or politicians to use our social media platforms to contact us.

You can contact us if you have any questions about our social media policy and procedures.

Marketing and Communications

Address: Causeway House
Bocking End
Braintree
Essex
CM7 9HB

Telephone: 01376 552525

Green and grey text saying tell me more with a white email icon in a green speech bubble

Stay connected

Sign up for our email newsletter to get service updates and the latest news.

Sign up today