We engage with people through many digital channels.

We welcome comments on our social media pages and understand that people have differing views on many issues, however, we will not condone swearing, discrimination or abusive posts.

When engaging with us via social media, you are agreeing to the following:

Commenting on a Merton Council social media site

All comments made by the public are reviewed and although they will not be edited, they may be deleted, reported or blocked if they violate the policy described here:

• Comments should be related to the posted topic for the council's social media page or post.
• Merton Council's social media accounts are not open to comments promoting or opposing any person campaigning for election to a political office.
• We will remove inflammatory, obscene or profane content and ban or block those who spread comments that (are):
  • defamatory, misleading or false
  • abusive or threatening – this includes swearing
  • unnecessarily name council staff or workers
  • obscene, profane or sexually oriented
  • discriminatory in any way
  • promoting illegal activity
  • promoting individual products or services
  • the same message posted multiple times, otherwise known as 'spamming'
  • controversial, irrelevant and off topic messages otherwise known as 'trolling'

Hate and harassment

Personal attacks of any kind, or offensive comments that target or disparage any ethnic, racial, age, or religious group, gender, sexual orientation or disability status are prohibited, and may be reported. Hate and harassment can take the form of criminal or non-criminal behaviour, and can include offensive comments or images on social media or text messages. We will remove or block any contributions or contributors who post hate-related messages on our accounts. We will also screenshot the posts and send them to the police for investigation.

Find out how to report hate crime or get support

User-created content

You are welcome to submit or post content, including photographs and videos where the content meets the standards specified in this policy. You may only post your own, original content.

Hours

Our social media pages are monitored between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you have an urgent query please see the Contact Us page.

Questions or concerns

If you do notice any offensive comments on our social media channels at any time, please send us a private message on Facebook or on Twitter and let us know.

This policy is subject to amendment or modification at any time.

We reserve the right to remove or block any contributions or contributors who break these rules and guidelines.