Dorset Council Social Media Acceptable Use Policy

This policy applies to all Dorset Council social media accounts, including our  X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok channels.

Responses

We check social media Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. 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. In most cases, it will be better to contact the service directly via our website.

Standards for conduct on social media

We request that those using our social media channels to contact us are civil, tasteful and relevant.

We reserve the right to remove, without notice, any disruptive, offensive or abusive posts. We also reserve the right to block a user if their interactions are offensive.

This could include:

• abusive language, or swearing
• messages that are offensive, libellous, sexually orientated or racially offensive, unlawful, profane, threatening or obscene
• promotions or advertisements of products or services
• the same message posted many times, otherwise known as 'spamming'
• controversial, irrelevant and off topic messages otherwise known as 'trolling' 

Complaints

Social media is not the appropriate avenue for raising an official complaint with councils in Dorset. Please see our complaints information or contact the service direct.

Approach to connections on social media

Any retweets, follows, or likes are not an endorsement of a service, individual or organisation. We do not take responsibility for any content on pages or profiles we have shared. There is no fixed approach on who we will have in our network.