Social Media Terms of Use

At the heart of it, UMSU is all about community. We’re here to work towards a better University experience for all students and provide a democratic, transparent forum where student affairs and interests are championed. We want our online channels to reflect this and provide a place where all members of the University of Melbourne community can come together to share ideas and experiences.

By extension, UMSU’s online properties belong to the student body, so we’ve laid down some house rules to ensure everyone has a fair chance to share their voice:

• We will remove any content that is threatening, abusive or deliberately offensive. Our community is not the place to harass someone you disagree with.
• We encourage spirited debate but please ensure that all posts are civil and respectful. If you can’t make your point without being offensive or strawmanning someone, then you aren’t really contributing to the discussion. If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, then don’t say it from behind a keyboard.
• We value your privacy. Any public posts that disclose an individual’s contact information, even your own, will be removed.
• The laws of the real world apply here, too. We expect you to not post any material that may be defamatory, contravene intellectual property laws or otherwise impinge on the legal rights of other users and entities. This includes statements or images with racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory messages.
• Remember that there are consequences to what you publish. There may be times where you feel something has been misrepresented. If you need to correct the content of another user please do so with respect and keep to the facts.
• Be mindful of the fact that any content that you publish will be in the public domain and in some cases will remain public for a long time. You are personally responsible for any content that you publish. Be aware that your content may provoke a response and be open to the opinions of others.
• UMSU is not your advertising tool. Individuals or businesses may not advertise products or services without prior approval. This includes other Facebook pages who leave spam comments on our posts. Contributions from personal accounts promoting commercial interests will be removed, where appropriate.
• The same goes for our ‘shares’ on Facebook and ‘retweets’ on Twitter. We enjoy participating on the social media landscape by interacting with other organisations in these ways, but that doesn’t reflect any legal or regulatory preference for them on our part. We share content in good faith.

While we support lively, open discussion, we reserve the right to block any users who don’t comply with the above categories, or who are otherwise deemed to be behaving inappropriately. At our discretion, individuals or entities who violate these terms will be blocked.

In serious or repeated cases of wilful breach of the terms, we may report the conduct to the University as a breach of the Student Conduct Policy http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1324

UMSU reserves the right to refer any posts which indicate an individual is at risk of harm to the appropriate authorities and/or services. In rare cases, we may choose to hide certain posts or messages from public view if their content could have an impact on a criminal investigation.

Our online channels are monitored from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and we will endeavour to respond to any enquiries within 24 hours of receiving them. Any comments or messages submitted to us outside of these hours may be subject to a delay in reply.

Please note that from time to time we may make changes to these terms of use at our sole discretion. Any changes to these terms will apply to UMSU’s online channels from the date they are published.