The Hills Shire Council: Social media moderation policy criticised as censorship

A Sydney council’s social media policy has been likened to “Putin’s Russia” as residents can no longer make political comments — or even name councillors — in their online feedback.

A Sydney council’s social media policy has been likened to “Putin’s Russia” after moving to block criticism of political decisions and councillors online. 

The Hills Shire Council has endorsed plans to block political comments and the naming of individual councillors and the mayor on the council’s Facebook page, just months after dissolving a community forum at public meetings and discarding the opportunity for councillors to raise questions without notice. 

This censorship comes after the NSW Office of Local Government (OLG) released a social media policy which lays out guidelines for how councils might moderate its official social media pages.

But The Hills Shire Council took the OLG’s recommendations several steps further in its draft social media moderation policy.

Council additions include blocking or removing comments which complain about the council or council officials — or even name them in the comments. Council will also remove comments deemed “political”, with their draft social media policy stating “comments of a political partisanship nature, opinion or platform will not be permitted”.

Hugh Vaughan, a Kenthurst resident, spoke out against the council’s policy.

At the recent council meeting Kenthurst resident Hugh Vaughan expressed his anger at what he called “insidious” censorship of political comments.

“The idea that a political comment could be banned would, I believe, cause Sir Robert Menzies to turn in his grave,” he said.

“Banning political comment is an extraordinary decision – one that you might expect in Putin’s Russia but not in a modern, developed democracy.

“Nobody can argue the necessity to protect council from legal jeopardy and users from bullying, harassment, intimidation and so on … but banning “political” comment seems to be more about protecting elected councillors from criticism”.

A senior council source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also raised concerns over the moderation of criticism. 

“They are using a sanitising filter to prevent any criticism of (council),” the source told The Hills Shire Times. 

“It may be that council are fearful that the organisation would be the target of defamation action as the council social media pages are responsible for the comments made by users.”

Hills Greens councillor Mila Kasby spoke against the policy.

At the recent council meeting the draft social media policy was adopted with Greens councillor Mila Kasby and Labor’s Ryan Tracey in the minority voting against the policy.

When speaking out against the policy, both Cr Kasby and Cr Tracey raised concerns over what could be classified as “political” as well as the need for more community engagement.

“The purpose of engaging with our community doesn’t seem achievable if certain topics are deemed to be off limits … (and) what is political to one person may not be to another,” Cr Kasby said.

“The more we silence discussions for fear of being challenged, the more we limit the benefits — the opportunities for community connection, engagement and growth.”

In a statement, a Hills Shire Council spokeswoman said the draft social media policy aims to provide guidance and set expectations around appropriate behaviour on council’s social media platforms.

“The policy does not limit freedom of speech, however it does protect those engaging with council’s social media from online harm, as well as defamatory comments which council could be liable for as the official publisher of content,” the spokeswoman said.

“Council welcomes community engagement, however encourages residents who want to voice their comments, especially those of a political nature, to contact their respective ward councillor.”