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:

We provide regular updates including news and information about:

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

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

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, and endeavour to answer all questions and direct you to more information.

Before engaging with us on social media we encourage you to read each platform’s terms of use, and our community guidelines below.

Political neutrality

The Commission is an independent Crown entity, which means we work independently from government. We are a politically neutral organisation and we do not advocate for any political party. Our social media channels will not be used to promote any political messages or other content.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that may compromise our obligation to maintain independence and political neutrality.

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 any personal information to our pages, such as your name or contact details, we will only use that information for the purposes for which you gave it to us. If you share your personal information with us in a public manner, please be aware that we will hide this if we see it, and as soon as we can, for your own privacy and protection.

How we manage our accounts

We actively manage our social media accounts from 8.30am – 5pm on business days. In the lead up to an election or other electoral event we may extend our hours so we’re available online for longer, or over weekends.

Our accounts are managed by the Electoral Commission’s Communications & Education team.

Community guidelines

We may remove content posted to our accounts that:

is not relevant
is offensive
is discriminatory
contains misleading content about enrolling or voting
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 a scam or 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 due to information shared on these accounts or on sites we link to.

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 July 2023