PORT Stephens Council has resolved to improve moderation on its social media accounts.
The motion was introduced by Mayor Leah Anderson in response to a perceived increase in negative comments and interactions on various social media pages related to the Council and local community groups.
“For too long, we have been tolerating poor behaviour on social media – comments that are hostile, abusive, threatening, use bad language, derogatory, or even defamatory,” Mayor Anderson read from the motion.
“This sort of conduct is not only unacceptable but also harmful to our community spirit.”
The motion related to social media accounts belonging to and managed by Council members and staff.
Moderators of these accounts will pay close attention to commenters and the language used in discussion and increase the use of filters to block particular offensive words, as well as remove insulting comments and block users who repeatedly use offensive language.
Cr Paul Le Mottee also suggested that moderators of community group pages have a responsibility to monitor these pages with the same standard, due to the potential for language to cause harm to individuals.
The motion was unanimously carried.
By Lindsay HALL
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