Social media commenting rules

Our goal with the Government of Alberta social media pages is to make them constructive places for people to ask questions and share feedback and discussions about government policies. We cannot commit to replying to every post, but we will do our best to answer questions and connect people with additional resources where needed.

Comment moderation

Comments are moderated and reviewed. To ensure our social media pages remain welcoming and productive spaces, our moderators will enforce the commenting rules, and may remove comments and posts that violate them.

We welcome commentary about government policies but will not tolerate comments that are offensive to an individual or an organization, rude or harassing in tone, or abusive to moderators or to other commenters.

We may remove comments that contain claims that cannot be easily verified by trusted sources. Comments that include third-party links to content that cannot easily be verified as credible may also be removed.

To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include phone numbers, email addresses or other identifying information in your comments. Posts containing identifying information will be removed.

We reserve the right to remove comments that are:

• racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, contain slurs, or are otherwise contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• abusive or rude in tone, either to government staff or to other commenters
• aggressive, violent, threatening, or references to self-harm or harm of a third party
• personally identifying, either about the poster or a third party
• encouraging of conduct that may or would violate the laws of relevant jurisdictions
• unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
• unproven or inaccurate factual claims
• obscene or pornographic
• not written by the author (form letters or comments)
• posted for advertising purposes
• duplicate or spam content (the same comment posted verbatim multiple times in a post)
• announcements from labour or political organizations, or messages from partisan websites
• unintelligible
• posted without the necessary licenses and consents from third parties
• any other message that moderators feel will not add to the normal flow of debate.

Comments meeting any of the above conditions may be removed. Users who repeatedly and/or purposefully violate these rules may be temporarily or permanently prevented from accessing this page.

While our moderators do their best to ensure that comments adhere to these rules, we are not able to moderate every inquiry. People should not assume that information or links included in comments on our channels are factual, or that the opinions they contain are supported by the Government of Alberta.

Advisory

The pages and information set out on them is provided solely for the convenience of interested users. While we try to ensure the accuracy of the content, the Government of Alberta shall not be responsible for any reliance by the user on the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness or reliability of the content. In using this content, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Government of Alberta from any and all third party claims, demands, actions or costs (including legal costs on a solicitor-client basis) arising out of your use of the Government of Alberta social media pages.

You also shall agree that you shall not use Government of Alberta social media pages in such a way as to offend the privacy, personal, property or other rights of any individuals or organizations. You also agree not to use these pages in such a way as to breach the laws of jurisdiction in which you currently reside.

Links to other websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Alberta may appear either in posts or in comments submitted by readers. These links are provided solely for the convenience of interested users. The Government of Alberta is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content of any other website. The Government of Alberta does not endorse, authorize, approve, certify, maintain, or control these external Internet addresses and does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy or timeliness of the information located at such addresses. The Government of Alberta is not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites. The Government of Alberta encourages users to review the privacy policies of any linked websites before navigating any website or disclosing personal information online.

Links from other websites

There may be circumstances where access to social media pages is provided by a link located at another website. The Government of Alberta has no responsibility for the content of such other sites and does not endorse, authorize, approve, certify, maintain, or control these external Internet addresses and does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy or timeliness of the information located at such addresses.