Standards/Social Media/Content Moderation

Official Party Document The veracity of this document is ensured by the National Council and editing of this page is limited to members of the National Council.

Standard: Content Moderation

Purpose

An outline of the procedures to follow when moderating content on social media, or blocking users from interacting with Pirate Party Australia pages and accounts.

Identifying inappropriate content

• Consider: does the post contribute to the discussion? Is it spam? Is the poster deliberately trying to be offensive or start an argument?
• If there are any questions about whether content is appropriate or not, check with the Social Media Officer.

Moderating discussion

• If a discussion is on the verge of devolving into an argument, step in and remind users to stay civil and on topic, and warn that offensive content is not tolerated.
• Even if users disagree strongly with Pirate Party policies or are sharing incorrect information (eg claiming that the Pirate Party encourages stealing from content creators), deletion is still a last resort. Where possible, respond to the comments with clarification of Party policies and a link to find out more.

Removing content

• Spam comments (clear advertisements for other websites or services) can be deleted immediately with no further action required.
• Do not remove your own content.
• When possible, 'hide' content instead of deleting permanently. On Facebook, the default option to hide content will not notify the user - their comments will remain visible to themselves and friends (and page moderators), but will not be visible to the general public.
• Blocks should only be considered for very serious offenses.
  • On Twitter, blocking a user will remove their tweets from the 'replies' view on a tweet. Block and report any user posting unacceptable content in response to Party tweets (eg hate speech, graphic images).
• When blocking, deleting, or hiding any material other than spam, email [email protected] and [email protected] with a copy of the relevant content (eg a screenshot) and the action taken.
• Where appropriate, notify the user that their comments have been deleted.