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Public Health Agency of Canada Facebook Terms of Use

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) uses Facebook , a free social networking platform, as one tool in its efforts to communicate clearly, quickly and in an interesting manner to Canadians.

These Terms of Use describe how we will communicate with Canadians via Facebook. By participating on our Facebook fan page you are agreeing to these Terms of Use. PHAC does not endorse any of the views shared by users. Comments in violation of these Terms of Use may result in PHAC deleting the comment and blocking the user in question to prevent further inappropriate comments.

The Agency currently holds two Facebook accounts:

Public Health Agency of Canada (English)

L’Agence de la santé publique du Canada (French)

• Content
• Posting Frequency
• Feedback and Messages
• Media Requests
• Policy on comments
• Availability
• Privacy
• Official Languages
• Accessibility
• Links to other websites
• PHAC employee use of Facebook
• Additional information

Content

Posts displayed on the PHAC Facebook fan page will cover various topics related to health such as public health messages, social marketing campaign announcements, press releases and ministerial announcements.

Posting Frequency

The number of posts will vary depending relevant material available each day. During some periods, we may post more or less frequently than average. You should expect to see new posts on the PHAC Facebook wall during regular working hours, Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Any activity during holidays, after core hours and on weekends would likely be along the lines of emergency or urgent communications of significant value to our Facebook community. Otherwise, the account will be relatively inactive during these times.

Feedback and Messages

Feedback and interaction is highly encouraged. Users must abide by these Terms of Use as well as the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities . All comments, questions, as well as e-mail sent to the Facebook account will be read, and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the Agency. Although we are not able to reply individually to all messages, they will be handled on a case-by-case basis and responded to when deemed appropriate.

If we feel a comment or a question posed to PHAC requires a response and/or a greater level of detail, we may develop a formal response and distribute the information through other channels such as e-mail, our website or other social media channels. We will pay attention to emerging themes and helpful suggestions and look forward to this potential interaction.

We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will generally occur during regular office hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. The Agency is not responsible for offering this service outside of the stipulated hours. PHAC will not respond to all questions or comments.

Please take note that we cannot engage in rendering medical advice, nor can we discuss issues of party politics.

Media Requests

We encourage the media to follow traditional channels to make a media request and visit our media room.

Policy on comments

We welcome your comments and do not discriminate against any views. Disagreements and constructive arguments are acceptable as part of the discussion. However, abusive or insulting comments are not acceptable. We expect the content of posts to be respectful of others. The views of participants commenting on this Facebook page do not necessarily represent the views of PHAC.

The Public Health Agency of Canada:

• Requires a valid Facebook account for every comment;
• Will moderate and review posted comments and may participate or intervene, as appropriate. While PHAC will not respond to all questions or comments, we will attempt to provide response and/or additional information or links when possible;
• Expects posted comments to be relevant to the section they are posted too and to the overall topic of the fan page;
• Disclaims all liability for comments posted to Facebook;
• Reserves the right to edit or remove comments that are:
  • contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ;
  • racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, or life-threatening;
  • serious, not proven, not supported, or not accurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
  • abusive, aggressive, coarse, vulgar, violent, obscene, or pornographic;
  • encouraging or suggesting illegal activities;
  • infringing on copyright or other intellectual property rights;
  • solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency. Similarly, we do not allow attempts to defame or defraud any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency;
  • announcements from labour or political organizations;
  • written in a language other than English or French;
  • not sent by the author and/or posted by anonymous or robot accounts;
  • repetitive, copied and pasted by multiple users;
  • unintelligible or irrelevant;
  • off-topic and that the forum moderators feel will not add to the flow of debate; and
  • infringing upon an individual's privacy.

In short, be respectful and make sure your comments are relevant to the topic under which you are responding. Anyone acting contrary to these Terms may be blocked from posting to our Facebook fan page. The moderators reserve the right to remove any message, in whole or in part. Users can provide wall comments as long as they respect these Terms of Use.

Availability

Facebook may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service owing to Facebook downtime.

Privacy

The PHAC Facebook page is not a Government of Canada website and represents our presence on Facebook, a third-party service provider. Users are encouraged to read its privacy policy .

Information shared with PHAC on Facebook is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act , which means that the information may be accessed and disclosed in response to a request under either of these acts.

Users are advised not to share personal information. Personal information includes home addresses and telephone numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, and any other information consisting of personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act . Should you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this notice, please contact the Agency Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division.

Official languages

PHAC respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both French and English, of equal quality. Messages will be posted simultaneously in both official languages – on our English Facebook page, and on French Facebook page.

Through the very nature of the social media forum, content will vary between the English and French Facebook accounts, particularly where messages and comments are concerned. Comments and questions that require a response will be answered in the official language of origin.

Users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.

Accessibility

Facebook, as a third party service provider, is not bound by Government of Canada policies for Web accessibility. The Government of Canada is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility and is working to address issues with third-party service provider platforms.

Links to other websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided for the convenience of users. We are not responsible for the accuracy, currency, or reliability of the content of other sites. We do not offer any guarantee in that regard. We are not responsible for the information found through these links, nor do we endorse the sites or their content.

PHAC employee use of Facebook

Some PHAC employees use Facebook outside of work hours and in their personal capacity under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with PHAC, the conduct of employees on Facebook in their personal capacity does not represent the official position of PHAC. The conduct of these employees should be considered as that of private citizens.

Additional Information

If you are looking for information about the Agency, please consult our website (publichealth.gc.ca). The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our website.

Please see our Important Notices page for additional information.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.