Social Media User Policy


City of Richmond Social Media User Policy

We welcome your comments and encourage discussion, dialogue and debate on our social media pages. Our goal is to create a positive user experience where visitors to our social media pages can share information, provide feedback and participate in promotions and discussions.

Participant Terms of Use

Many of our social media platforms or other sites provide the opportunity for postings and comments. Any wall posts or comments should be to discuss the content on this page only and not for any other conversational purposes.

The City of Richmond is not responsible for the comments made by users accessing their pages (ie. page followers), and reserves the right to remove any content that is deemed inappropriate by our Site Administrators. This includes:

  • offensive content such as violent, obscene, profane, hateful or racist posts, links, or images
  • insults, defamatory comments and harassment towards any individual or organization
  • solicitations, advertisements or endorsements of any financial, commercial or not-for-profit organizations or initiatives (eg. surveys)
  • content promoting or opposing political candidates, causes or campaigns
  • inappropriate images and text
  • comments that suggest or encourage illegal activity
  • aggressive, rude, abusive, defamatory, repetitious or irrelevant comments
  • repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by a single or multiple users
  • content that is off-topic and not related to the original post or discussion stream

If any individual repeatedly posts content as outlined above, the City of Richmond reserves the right to mute or block that person from further activity on the page.

Please note, when you engage with the City of Richmond’s social media platforms, you are always subject to the host website’s Terms of Use.

User-generated content

Users are encouraged to submit or post content, including photographs and videos, if the content meets the standards articulated in the Terms of Use and pertains to the subject of the online engagement platform. Users may only post content that is their own. Content that is not original and appears to violate third party rights is subject to deletion.

By submitting or uploading user content, you are authorizing us to use and reproduce the user content and your name on our social media channels and in our marketing materials.

Social media data collection

By engaging with the City of Richmond’s social media platforms, you acknowledge and agree that any personal information you post is being posted to the public domain and that you are providing your informed consent to the disclosure of your personal information on a public domain social media platform (in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act).

The City is not responsible for any personal information or other information posted on public social media channels. All personal information on public social media channels is considered a record available to the general public. Please be aware that any information collected may be stored and / or accessed outside of Canada on servers not belonging to the government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include any personal information including phone numbers, full names, addresses and email addresses in the body of your comment. Please do not share personal information about others, including pictures.

The City is not responsible for content on linked sites or accounts outside of the City of Richmond's ownership, or hashtags. The use of hashtags, tags or links does not imply affiliation, representation or endorsement of any/all content accessed through these means.

Content submissions

While the City of Richmond appreciates the great efforts many of our followers make towards important causes and fundraisers, the City will not post or share solicitations, advertisements or endorsements of any financial, commercial or not-for-profit organization (this includes sharing requests for fundraisers, recruitment of participants for research programs, etc.) except where there is a specific connection to City programs or initiatives.

The City of Richmond's liking, replying, following, retweeting, direct messaging or sharing of content should not be interpreted as any kind of endorsement.

Questions or concerns

For questions or concerns regarding the City of Richmond’s social media platforms and social media policy, visit www.richmond.ca/contact.