Social Media Terms of Use

The Town of Stouffville is committed to engaging in and fostering two-way dialogue with our residents. Social media is one of the ways we work towards reaching this goal.

Please note, the Town's social media accounts are not consistently monitored outside of regular business hours. We can not guarantee that we will respond to any questions/inquiries via social media. For urgent matters, please contact our Customer Service department at 905-640-1900.

Inappropriate Content

Content posted to the Town's corporate social media sites shall be related to Town business. The Town reserves the right to remove content (whether generated by the Town or by members of the public) that is deemed inappropriate, or in violation of the Town's social media policy, without notice. Inappropriate content may include, but is not limited to:

• Confidential Information: Content that provides the personal information of individuals without their consent, or shares confidential or proprietary information.
  
  
• Copyrighted Material: Any content that violates the legal ownership interest of another party.
  
  
• Discriminatory Language or Harassment: Includes personal attacks on an individual or specific group, and content that promotes, perpetuates or fosters discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, record of offenses, marital status, family status, disability or the receipt of public assistance.
  
  
• Profane Language or Sexual Content: Includes profane or abusive language, and content that is sexually explicit or links to content that is sexually explicit.
  
  
• Personal Political Content: Includes content that supports or opposes a candidate for municipal, provincial or federal election, political campaigns or matters before Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville Council, personal comments or opinions of Town staff or elected officials, or any personal opinions of political process.
  
  
• Personal Religious Content: Includes content that promotes an individual religion or religious service.
  
  
• Commercial Endorsement or Solicitation: Includes content that is commercial in nature and that attempts to endorse, advertise or sell the products or services or an individual or business.
  
  
• Promotion or Conduct of Illegal Activity: Includes content that conducts or encourages illegal activity, does not comply with municipal, provincial or federal legislation, or content that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems.
  
  
• External Links: Any link posted by a member of the public to an external web page, image, or other content that is not owned or operated by the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.

No content will be posted to a Town social media account by members of the public anonymously.  All comments made on a Town account shall be from a business, organization or individual whose contact information is fully displayed on their own account(s).  The Town reserves the right to delete any content, including comments, that appear to be from an anonymous source.

Social media websites are third party service providers that collect, store and manage your copyrighted material whenever you access and use the site. Please refer to the social media site’s Terms of Service for particulars. Note that Stouffville has no control over what social media websites do with your copyrighted material.

Social media websites are third party service providers that collect, store and manage your personal information whenever you access and use the site. Please refer to the social media site’s Terms of Service and privacy policy for particulars. Note that Stouffville has no control over what social media websites do with your personal information.

Stouffville also collects your personal information for the purpose of including your posts on its page and for the purpose of engaging in an interactive dialogue with you through the social media website, and does so under the authority of the Municipal Act, 2001 (Ontario) but subject to compliance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Ontario) ("MFIPPA") and Stouffville's Records Retention By-law (the "By-law").

The Municipal Act, 2001, MFIPPA and the By-law prescribe rules that require Stouffville to retain records, including records containing personal information, for a minimum period of time, to ensure that records are not disclosed without legal authorization, and that ultimately records are destroyed upon the expiry of applicable retention periods set out in the By-law.