My Social Media Policy

My social media policy aims to ensure that all constituents of the Redditch County Constituency are able to interact with me as their Member of Parliament in a way that is compatible with democratic principles, politeness and good manners.

Unfortunately, there are some who wish to abuse my social media accounts for their own purposes and even as an MP I have a right to protect myself from harassment, abuse and must also guard against attempts to undermine democracy.

I am also a Conservative MP, which means I have a party political viewpoint that not everyone will agree with. Some will disagree with my positions very vehemently. However, it is important to remember that my social media accounts/pages are my platform, owned and operated by me and/or my team, to express my positions along with the views and position(s) of my party in addition to communicating with residents as a whole about what the government is doing for them, what my party proposes, and the work that I am carrying out as the local MP.

There are two advertising accounts that support my Page on Facebook. One is funded by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) which funds advertising when the post contains information that is useful to residents as a whole regardless of how they vote as part of democratic engagement and a means to inform my constituents what I am doing for them. The other advertising account is funded by Redditch County Conservative Association which funds advertising when a post contains party political messaging. No public money is spent on party political messaging and promotions.

Comments and Interaction

I try to interact with comments left on my social media accounts as much as I can, but please remember these platforms are not an appropriate place to raise casework issues or matters that need an in-depth response or analysis. Comments cannot replace emails – for instance I cannot forward your comment to a government minister for a response like I can with an email, so sometimes it is better to put your question/comment into an email to me on rachel.maclean.mp@parliament.uk so you can get a full and proper response.

There are some ‘ground rules’ when it comes to managing the community around my social media accounts. These are not extensive and can be updated at any time as new situations and issues emerge.

  1. The primary aim of my social media accounts is to serve residents of Redditch County Constituency, not residents of other constituencies. You may have your comments hidden or removed if you are discovered not to live or work in the constituency.
  2. Abuse of any kind will not be tolerated – even if you think the words you have used are mild or were posted sarcastically. Any comments that my team and/or I feel are not polite and courteous may be hidden or deleted and the account posting them may be blocked.
  3. Freedom of speech is not to be confused with freedom of platform. The comments sections of my social media accounts cannot be used as a platform for people or organisations to spread their political views that I do not agree with or aren’t compatible with my party’s policies. Comments that do this may be hidden or deleted and the account posting them may be blocked from posting comments in the future.
  4. Spamming is not tolerated – spamming includes persistent posting of comments across multiple posts that essentially say the same thing, or the posting of multiple comments in a single thread with the intent to flood the thread. Comments will be deleted and the account may be blocked.
  5. Stick to the topic being posted about. Comments that are intended to deflect or divert attention from the content of the main post may be removed.
  6. Advertising of any kind is not permitted and any genuine recommendations of products or services that people make in the comments are the responsibility of the person making the recommendation. Suspected advertising will be deleted.
  7. Comments that seek to campaign against my party and its candidates will be removed and the account blocked. This includes opposition activists who persistently post comments to my social media accounts.

If you have been blocked from posting comments on my social media accounts and would like to understand why please contact me on rachel.maclean.mp@parliament.uk so we can discuss how to move forwards.