Social media terms of use

How we use our social media accounts

We use social media to communicate with New Zealanders about enrolling and voting in elections and referendums. Our terms of use let you know what to expect when engaging with us on these channels.

You can connect with us on:

If you follow us, you’ll get regular updates including news and information about:

how to enrol or check your enrolment details
the voting process for elections and referendums
the New Zealand electoral system
registration of political parties and logos
how to have your say during boundary reviews, and
recruitment.

At different times we may operate other social media channels for a specific purpose or audience.

We follow or like accounts run by other organisations and individuals and may share third-party content. This doesn’t mean we endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any their information.

Posts made by others to our social media channels are the responsibility of that person or organisation. They are not a reflection of the Electoral Commission’s opinions or policies.

People who work for the Electoral Commission may engage in discussions on social media using their personal profiles. Any opinions or views expressed in these posts belong to the individual staff member. Any of our staff acting in an official capacity will identify themselves along with their position within the organisation and say that they’re representing the Electoral Commission.

Engaging with us on social media

We encourage conversation on our channels and welcome your feedback and ideas. We’ll try to join these conversations where possible, but we can't guarantee we’ll be able to reply individually to every comment.

It’s important that we maintain our neutrality, so we won’t take part in political conversations.

Before engaging with us on social media we encourage you to read each platform’s terms of use.

Protecting your privacy

When you’re using social media, keep in mind the public nature of the platforms. Check out the privacy policies of the channels you use, as well as their terms of use so to make sure you’re protecting your privacy.

If you message us with, or post, your personal information such as your name and contact details, we will only use that information for the purposes for which you gave it to us.

How we monitor our accounts

We monitor our social media accounts from 8am – 5pm on business days. In the lead up to an election or other electoral event we may extend our monitoring hours so we’re available online longer.

Monitoring is done by the Electoral Commission’s Communications & Education team.

We may remove content posted to our accounts that:

is not relevant
is offensive
is discriminatory
discourages voting, enrolment or other involvement in our democracy
may be against the law
is politically biased or could impact on our political neutrality
infringes on intellectual property rights
relates to commercial activity, including advertising
appears to be spam.

We may report, block or ban anyone who posts the above content, or who breaches these terms of use or the terms of use of the relevant social media platform.

Disclaimer

The contents of our social media accounts are intended for information purposes only. We won’t accept any liability for loss or damage suffered due to information shared on these accounts or on sites we link to.

The information on our social media accounts is provided on the basis that people accessing the information are responsible for assessing the relevance and accuracy of the content.

Our terms of use may be updated at any time.

How to contact us

Contact us on any of our social media channels, or email media@elections.govt.nz if you have questions or comments about our social media channels or these terms of use.

If you have an urgent query, please phone 0800 36 76 56 or email enquiries@elections.govt.nz

Last updated November 2021