Digital & social media policy

Digital and social media use is governed by a number of laws. Equally, Leamington and Warwick Musical Society (LWMS) has a very positive reputation, and this is extremely important in delivering our charitable work. The policy explains how we use digital and social media effectively, and avoid problems.

The Law

Digital and social media is covered by a number of UK laws and has no national boundaries. Your posts may well be read in other countries. As a very simple guide, you may be breaking the law, if you post (or potentially repost) anything that may fall into any of the following categories:

• Harassment: not leaving someone alone;
• Menacing behaviour: writing something that may scare someone;
• Threatening behaviour: making someone believe that you were going to hurt them;
• Grossly offensive comments: making deeply unpleasant comments about a sensitive issue.
• Libel: a post is potentially libellous if it is a false statement and may damage someone's reputation;
• Defamation: users may be sued for defamation, if they post an unsubstantiated rumour about someone;
• Data protection: breaching an individual’s right to privacy;
• Copyright: posting material without permission that is owned by another person or organisation.

Speaking on behalf of LWMS

We have a number of people who may speak, email, or post on social media to represent LWMS publicly. If you’re unsure if you are one or not, you’re not, so don’t.

Even if you do not speak on behalf of LWMS, you are personally responsible for all digital content you publish. If you were to post on an issue related to our work, people who know you may think you were speaking on our behalf. Those that don’t know you may think so too, if you were to use our logo or refer to us in your posts.

Expectations

Do not breach privacy or security. Do not post personal information, such as someone’s home address, and never post about individuals without their consent, unless there is little if any doubt it would be given. Remember that individuals who may not be fully competent, perhaps due to being underage, a disability, or illness such as dementia, may not be able to give informed consent.

Don’t make it easy for criminals, by posting information that they might use. For example, that the gate at the rehearsal venue will be open early, or that you will be leaving late on your own.

Clearly state your opinions are your own. If you are not a spokesperson, make clear that your comments, opinions or posts are your own, so these won’t be interpreted as our position. This statement could appear on your profile.

Appear human. Observing certain guidelines does not mean you have to sound like a robot. Speak in the first person; bring your personality to the forefront.

Write using our ‘tone of voice’. Where possible, when communicating with the public, media or government, use our ‘tone of voice’.

We are passionate in supporting our community and like a laugh as much as anyone else, but we’re professional, courteous, positive and respect the right of others to hold opinions that are different to ours.

Abusive posts. A troll is someone who intentionally causes upset, harm, or offence by provoking people online. Be careful not to confuse a troll with someone who is critical and/or upset. There will be people who have valid concerns or have a genuine complaint that may come across as angry and irate. Look at their social media to see they post and how they reply. Trolls often have a profile picture that is an object, rather than a person, or no profile image at all.

People who are abusive are usually trying to provoke a reaction from you, so don’t give them what they want. Besides, you are unlikely to convince them they are wrong. Post separately to address the issue. You can also adjust your settings to not allow replies, use the relevant abuse reporting system, block them and, if you think they are committing a crime, report them to the police.

Disagreeing. If you disagree with something and feel you should respond, always be courteous and do not personalise your response. Focus on the issue, not the person who wrote the post. If you simply ‘poke someone in the chest’, you won’t get a positive response. And no issue was ever solved without a solution, so offer one.

Text and symbols. Using emoji, ‘lol’ etc can help add humour to a fun post, but be mindful if you are making an important point, as it may trivialise your message. Using multiple exclamation marks, lots of capital letters, bold and underlining is equivalent to ‘shouting’ and you may not be taken seriously.

Think first, post after. If something gets online, it stays there for a long time. Social media posts are searcheable. An off-hand or opinionated post can all be traced back to you.

Ask for a second opinion. Not sure if and how you should comment on something? Seek advice from the Management Committee.

Be politically neutral. It is essential that we are not only politically neutral but seen to be. It is legitimate for a charitable organisation to write in order to influence the government and its agencies positively in support of our community, and criticising them won’t help us do that. Equally, we treat all recognised political parties with respect and support any of their initiatives that support our own aims, but we do not actively support or promote any individual party. Information on campaigning can be found here and here.

Ethics. We are a charity, so appearing (even inadvertently) to support or endorse unethical activity such as smoking or getting drunk is inappropriate. Posts should always be respectful and portray our members in a way they would wish to be seen, and not cause embarrassment, offence or alarm.

Diversity. Be mindful of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy when posting. This does not mean you have to include token or unrepresentative imagery, but equally, anything you say or show should not be exclusionary.

Respect copyright, fair use and other laws. Make sure you acknowledge the source and observe copyright laws regarding use of images, audio, and video. Images of crowds at events don’t require the approval of each individual, but an image where a limited number of individuals are the subject matter of the image do. For example, an image of a band at a large cultural event, which includes the audience, doesn’t require everyone in the audience’s approval, but a small group of people, where they are clearly the subject of the image would. It is particularly important that you obtain permission if you wish to use images of children or vulnerable adults, in line with our Safeguarding policy.

Don’t be offensive. To anyone, for any reason. Two good tests:

• If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it at all;
• If you wouldn’t want your mother to read it, don’t write it.

Extremist views, sexism, pornography/distressing or otherwise offensive imagery, racial/ethnic or religious discrimination, homophobia or disparaging comments against any minority group, such as the disabled or mentally ill are not acceptable, under any circumstances, ever.

Meaning

Remember that the majority of human communication is through body language and voice tone and loudness. The amount of written text in social media can be limited, so meaning can easily be lost. What may appear light hearted and funny to you, may potentially come across very differently on digital platforms.

Take into account potential social and/or cultural differences in your audience who may be more sensitive to particular issues or subjects than the wider population.

Moderation

Members of our community will debate issues that matter to them, and we actively encourage diversity of opinion. We believe that open, honest debate can help to address divisions and just because we don’t agree with something, doesn’t necessarily mean that we would remove it. For example, critical comments about our work are rare but, whilst we always respond in a balanced and measured way, we do not remove these, even when we do not necessarily agree with these, subject to the guidelines below.

The community has diversity of views, which may be strongly held. There is nothing wrong in holding strong views, but that does not automatically make alternative views offensive. In general, as long as a post does not break the law, is a genuine contribution to a debate and is not offensive, we would not usually remove it. Specifically, we will take down any post that falls into the categories below:

• Anything we believe may fall into any of the categories in the section above titled ‘The Law’;
• Any post that contained views that we feel the majority of reasonable people would consider to be offensive. The section ‘Don’t be offensive’ above is not an exhaustive list but does provide guidance on what would normally be considered offensive. The use of swearing or derogatory comments about an individual or organisation would also normally be considered offensive;
• Any post that is irrelevant to our work and the online conversations being held – that which might be considered 'spam'.

We may also block those posting such material and/or report the issue to the relevant authorities.

Any request to take down a post should be managed using our Complaints policy. Before a post is taken down, screenshot or otherwise record the post.

Platforms

Just because a social media platform exists does not mean that we should post on it. Some platforms amplify extreme and harmful views which do not align with our values. We may choose to retain accounts to prevent 'squatters', but reserve the right not to engage actively on platforms. No social media platforms are without fault, but we choose where to post at our discretion.

Fake accounts and bots

Social media bots can be helpful, but many are malicious and, with the advent of generative AI, are becoming increasingly difficult to spot. Here are some indicators that may indicate an account is a bot:

• A recent account creation date;
• Coordinated resharing and amplifying of posts between a small network of accounts, or limited original posts;
• Unrealistically fast response times to others, indicating that the account is almost always online;
• Low-quality comments with limited and repetitive vocabulary;
• Usernames with long, random number sequences;
• Stolen profile images from real people or 'patriotic' profile images (such as flags, weapons, political symbols);
• Limited focus on content outside of a pre-defined set of hashtags and topics.

We reserve the right to take down content from, or block fake accounts without notice.

AI-generated images

Marking AI Imagery. If we use AI generated, stock or digitally enhanced imagery, particularly where the subject may be emotive or challenging, we will ensure that the way in which we do so is not reasonably likely to mislead. We may use watermarks, 'alt' text, footnotes or annotations in the content of posts to label imagery as AI-generated. We may not do so where its context and/or content is unlikely to mislead or influence. For example, an image of intergalactic war or use of a stock image on a post to advertise a future meeting.

Accuracy. We will ensure as far as possible that anything portrayed in an AI image, such as medical equipment or cultural dress, is accurate, to ensure we do not offend.

Social Media. We recognise that AI deep fakes can be difficult to identify but those using our social media will be made aware of the risk. We will not like, share or support in the comments any imagery or content that we reasonably suspect to be fake.

Data protection

We process and store personal information in line with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the Data Protection Act (DPA). Our Privacy policy sets out details of what personal information we collect and how we collect it, how we use and store data, and time limits for responding to Subject Access Requests (SARs).

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not apply to LWMS, and we will not generally respond in detail to requests under FOIA. We would normally direct requestors to publicly available information such as our website, or the Charity Commission.

This policy was reviewed by the LWMS committee on 4 November 2024, and will be further reviewed at least every 2 years.