Social Media Terms of Use

Thank you for connecting with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on social media. We hope that the content we share on various social media platforms is informative and helps you better understand the services provided by the Provincial Government.

What you can expect?

Content is typically shared Monday – Friday across multiple official Government of Newfoundland and Labrador social media accounts, including departmental X accounts. While there may be opportunities to engage in dialogue with followers, our communications staff may not always reply or acknowledge comments or inquires made through social media. If you have questions or concerns around a specific issue, we would encourage you to contact the appropriate department.

For media inquiries, please contact departmental communications staff directly.

If you require any emergency service (medical, police, fire or similar) please call 9-1-1 to connect with the appropriate service provider in your region.

Things to Consider:

  • Our accounts are typically monitored during regular business hours, unless otherwise specified. (Provincial Government holidays, weekends, and evenings.)
  • Comments which do not follow our Terms of Use may be removed and users that ignore these comment policies may be banned;
  • Besides our Terms of Use, each social media platform also has their own terms of service and can be found here: Facebook – X – YouTube – Instagram. You should carefully review the terms and conditions that apply to you before obtaining the particular service.
  • Social media accounts are maintained and monitored by communications staff within the Executive Council’s Communications and Public Engagement Branch and departmental accounts are maintained by department communications staff.
  • Although we will work hard to help you, we can’t guarantee that we will understand your question completely or answer it accurately. By contacting us through social media, you acknowledge that any response we provide to you through the site is intended to provide helpful information and is not considered definitive advice or guaranteed to solve your issue.
  • The views of those who comment on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s social media sites do not necessarily represent the views of the Provincial Government.
  • Comments and links to third party websites that may be posted on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s social media sites are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Provincial Government.
  • We will do our best to make posts and other digital media as accessible as possible by following guidelines outlined in our Accessible Communications Policy, however, we may be restricted from time to time depending on the limitations of the social media platform or the form of digital media being used.
  • We cannot guarantee a response to a direct message through social media.

Commenting

While we encourage public dialogue, we ask that comments and replies on Government social media accounts be relevant and respectful. We reserve the right to moderate and delete comments that we feel are inappropriate, and to ban or block users to prevent future violations of our Terms of Use. If you choose to post content, please keep in mind that you must not post:

  • Comments that mislead as to your identity or the origin of the posted content, or falsely claim to represent a person, organization or entity;
  • Comments that are in violation of any law, rule or regulation or any third party right or that promotes any illegal activity or conduct that would contravene any law, rule or regulation or third party right;
  • Comments that are abusive, hateful, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, malicious, aggressive, threatening, violent, sexist, harassing, vulgar, obscene, offensive, tortious, profane, or discriminatory in any way;
  • Any comment that incites hatred, racism, bigotry, discrimination or physical harm of any kind against any individual or class of individuals contrary to a prohibited ground of the
    Human Rights Act;
  • Sexually explicit or violent imagery or links;
  • Business solicitation, or “spamming”;
  • Off topic or irrelevant comments;
  • False or misleading information;
  • Profanity of any kind; and
  • Information that violates an individual’s or group’s privacy.

Best practice would be to refrain from posting your, or others’ personal information on social media sites. For tips on how to protect yourself and your privacy using social media, visit the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s website.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

Use of our social media sites and their contents is at you own risk. They and all of their content are provided “as is”. You must not rely on any content published on or linked from our social media sites without first making your own inquiries to verify it is accurate, current and complete. We cannot guarantee that all information is current or accurate. We do not make, and expressly disclaim, any representations, warranties, covenants and conditions, express or implied, arising out of operation of law, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade or otherwise, including any express or implied warranties and conditions of: merchantability; merchantable quality; fitness for a particular purpose; non-infringement; safety; quality; freedom from defects or that defects will be corrected; uninterrupted, virus-free or error-free use of our social media sites; or accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness or appropriateness relating to the content of them.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and its employees will not be liable for any loss or damages of any nature, either direct or indirect, arising from use of the information provided or connected with our social media sites, or information provided at any other site that can be accessed from our social media sites.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador reserves the right to supplement, remove or modify these Terms of Use at any time and from time to time without notice. Please check this website regularly for any changes. If you continue to access our social media sites following a change to these Terms of Use, you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.