Social Media Terms of Engagement
We encourage discussion, debate and freedom of expression on the City of Medicine Hat’s official social media sites. Comments and questions should be clean, constructive and on topic.
We use social media as a moderated online discussion tool and not an official public forum. We engage the strongest filters provided by each social media platform and, therefore, some comments are automatically hidden (e.g., profanity).
We moderate comments to ensure our online spaces are respectful, open and safe for all. With this in mind, we ask that you treat each other and page administrators with respect when commenting and engaging in City of Medicine Hat social media spaces.
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, rude, violent or threatening in tone, either to government staff or to other commenters
- off-topic
- defamatory or contain personal attacks
- 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
- posted for advertising purposes
- duplicate or spam content (the same comment posted verbatim multiple times in a post, or across multiple posts)
- 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
Users who do not comply with these terms will be warned and may be reported. Repeat offenders will be banned. City of Medicine Hat social media coordinators reserve the right to determine when a user is in violation of the terms of use or commenting guidelines.
If you have concerns about a user or a post, please send a direct message through that account.
Note that the City of Medicine Hat uses social media as a tool to inform the community about City projects, topics and opportunities, and not as a public forum to gather feedback. Moderators do their best to ensure that comments adhere to these rules, but are not able to respond to all inquiries or record and share suggestions or feedback. Instead, opportunities for feedback, questions and community engagement are provided through:
- Report a Problem (online portal to submit service requests)
- Shape Your City (public engagement website offering digital opportunities to engage and promoting in-person engagement opportunities)
You can also reach out to City Council through this online form.
The views expressed by outside contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the City of Medicine Hat or its employees. The City of Medicine Hat does not endorse comments publicly posted.
