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Social media terms of use

Social media terms of use

The Ministry of Education uses social media to communicate with all New Zealanders interested in the education system.

These terms of use apply to the Ministry of Education’s social media accounts. By using or accessing our social media accounts, you agree and affirm the conditions of use of the particular social media platform and our individual page or account.

We use social media to share information about education in New Zealand, and to enable conversations and feedback. Our followers can expect to receive regular updates including:

  • Information about our services and activities
  • News and information about the New Zealand education system
  • Invitations to provide feedback on specific issues
  • Information about recruitment
  • Emergency information like school closures during bad weather

We may follow or like accounts run by other organisations and individuals, and may share third-party content from time to time. This does not mean endorsement nor guarantee the accuracy of any third-party information.

Posts made by others to our social media channels are the responsibility of that person or organisation. They do not necessarily reflect the Ministry of Education’s opinions or policy.

Engagement

We welcome feedback and ideas from our followers and will try to join these conversations where possible. However, we can't guarantee we will be able to reply individually to every post or direct message. If you have an urgent query, contact enquiries.national@education.govt.nz. You can also contact one of our local offices or service teams directly.

Please note we cannot engage on issues of party politics.

Connect with us on:

At different times we may operate other social media channels for a specific purpose or audience.

People employed by the Ministry of Education may engage in posting or discussions on their personal pages using these platforms. Any opinions or views expressed in these posts or discussions belong to the individual staff member. Ministry of Education staff acting in an official capacity will identify themselves along with their position within the organisation, and state that they are representing the Ministry of Education.

Monitoring

We monitor our social media accounts from 8.30 am – 5pm on business days. Monitoring is done by the Ministry of Education’s Social Media Team.

We reserve the right to report or remove (as appropriate) any posts or comments that do not comply with the:

We also reserve the right to remove content posted to our social media accounts that:

  • is not relevant
  • is potentially libellous
  • constitutes an unlawful use of imagery that violates copyright or breach of a licence agreement
  • is deemed offensive, abusive or obscene
  • links to sites that may be obscene, abusive, offensive or indecent
  • has political bias
  • constitutes spam
  • refers to any commercial activity including advertising.

We may report, block or ban anyone who posts the above content or comments, or who breaches these terms of use or the terms of use of the relevant social media platform.

Privacy

See our privacy information.

Copyright

Crown copyright
  • Unless otherwise indicated, the material we make available on our social media accounts is protected by Crown copyright. In essence you are free to reproduce this Crown copyright material free of charge without further permission, as long as you:
  • reproduce the material accurately
  • do not use the material in a derogatory manner or a misleading context
  • acknowledge the source and copyright status of the material.

If you wish to reproduce images, contact copyright.permissions@education.govt.nz

Copyright of third parties

Our social media accounts may provide links to other websites or embed material which may contain information that is the copyright of third parties and subject to restrictions on use or reproduction.

You must get permission from the copyright owner to use:

  • copyrighted materials from other websites, or
  • material on our social media pages that is protected by the copyright of a third party.

The Ministry of Education cannot give you this permission.

Licence

By submitting, posting or displaying your content on any of our social media accounts, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use that content.

Contact

Please email communications@education.govt.nz if you have any questions or comments about any of our social media channels or these terms of use.

Disclaimer

The contents of our social media accounts are intended for informational purposes only. The Ministry of Education shall in no event accept any liability for loss or damage suffered by any person or body due to information provided on these sites or linked sites.

Social media sites may occasionally become unavailable. The Ministry of Education cannot accept responsibility for lack of service due to downtime.

The information on our social media sites and all government web sites is provided on the basis that persons accessing the web site undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content.

Updates to terms of use

These terms of use may be updated at any time without notice.