Social media terms of use

Social media helps government reach Nova Scotians, provide timely information and important resources, and responses to questions.

Government social media channels content includes:

• announcements and news
• information on government priorities, programs and services
• photos and videos
• safety and emergency updates
• stories about people, communities, culture and business in Nova Scotia

Monitoring

Government social media accounts are usually active Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, unless otherwise stated. Monitors typically post and respond during those hours. If you ask a question in the evening or on the weekend, you will get a response during regular working hours.

Enquiries

Government social media accounts respond to questions during regular working hours. While staff try to respond to all enquiries, sometimes post volume may prevent individual responses.

If your question is confidential, complicated or needs a more detailed response, use the Public Enquiries Contact Form.

Commenting

While government encourages public dialogue, we ask that comments on government social media accounts be relevant and respectful. We reserve the right to delete comments that we feel are inappropriate and to block any user to prevent further comments of this nature. We reserve the right to remove comments that include, but are not limited, to use of:

• profane language of any kind
• language not respectful of other users of the site (including harassing, aggressive or abusive language)
• comments that encourage or suggest illegal activity
• comments that are repetitive or spam
• abusive or oppressive language, content, or links (this includes comments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic or promote bigotry in any way)
• sexually explicit or violent imagery or links
• harassing or abusive language towards individuals or groups
• information that violates an individual’s or group’s privacy
• business solicitations or “spamming”
• off-topic or irrelevant content
• misinformation and unproven or inaccurate accusations

Government social media accounts will not engage in partisan commentary. Comments on Government of Nova Scotia posts are not endorsed by government.

If a user repeatedly breaches these guidelines monitors will report the user to the associated social media platform.

Links to other websites and ads

Links to third-party websites or ads for third-party products or services may be displayed on our platforms. They are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Government of Nova Scotia. The Government of Nova Scotia is not responsible for the information found through these links or ads.

Privacy

Government social media accounts are hosted by third-party service providers and are outside the control of the Government of Nova Scotia. Users should read the services' privacy statements and user agreements before signing up for these services. Government social media platforms are publicly accessible and comments are visible to the public.

Best practice would be to avoid from posting your personal information, or anyone else's on these platforms.

To the extent that content is collected through a social media platform, the Government of Nova Scotia follows its Privacy statement and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The Government of Nova Scotia reserves the right to modify these guidelines at any time. By continuing to follow government’s social media platforms constitutes acceptance of these terms.