Interacting with us on social media

This notice explains how the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) interacts with the public on Social Media.

Content and frequency

We use social media as an alternative method of sharing the content posted on our website and interacting with our stakeholders. By following us on social media, you can expect to see information about the programs and services we provide. Our posts cover topics that may be of interest to individual taxpayers and benefit recipients, businesses, tax professionals, and registered charities.

We understand that the web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. You should expect to see new content or replies to comments posted weekdays during business hours.

Because the servers of social media platforms are managed by a third party, our social media accounts are subject to downtime that may be out of our control. As such, we accept no responsibility for platforms becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

Links to other websites and ads

Our social media accounts may post or display links or ads for websites that are not under our control. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the information found through these links or ads, nor does it endorse the sites or their content.

Following, "favouriting" and subscribing

Our decision to "follow," "favourite", or "subscribe to" another social media account does not imply an endorsement of that account, channel, page, or site, and neither does sharing (re-tweeting, reposting, or linking to) content from another user.

Comments and interaction

We will read all direct mentions on social media and participate in discussions when appropriate. We ask that your comments be relevant and respectful.

We cannot engage in issues of party politics or answer questions that break the rules of this notice. We cannot offer advice on personal or business tax matters on social media.

We reserve the right to edit or remove comments that:

• contain personal information;
• are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
• express racist, hateful, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, or life-threatening messages;
• put forward serious, unproven, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
• are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene, or pornographic;
• are offensive, rude, or abusive to an individual or an organization;
• are not sent by the author or are put forward for advertising purposes;
• encourage illegal activity;
• contain announcements from labour or political organizations;
• are written in a language other than English or French;
• are unintelligible or irrelevant;
• are repetitive or spam; and
• do not, in our opinion, add to the normal flow of the discussion.

In short, please be respectful and make sure that your comments are relevant to where they are posted. If we find that you are in repeated violation of these terms and conditions, this could result in us removing your ability to post comments on our pages.

The views of users commenting on our social media accounts do not necessarily represent the views of the CRA or the Government of Canada.

We will not reply to questions or comments sent to us using social media channel's private messaging systems. However, from time to time we may use it to reply directly and privately to a user when a public reply is not appropriate.

Also, please note that you participate in social media at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username and any information provided. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include full names, home phone numbers or e-mail addresses, Social Insurance Numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, or any other personal information in the body of your comment.

Accessibility of social media platforms

Social media platforms are third-party service providers and are not bound by Government of Canada standards for web accessibility.

If you have difficulty accessing content on our social media accounts, please contact us and we will try to solve the problem or provide you with the information in a different format.

Copyright

Information that we post is subject to the Copyright Act .

Privacy

Our social media accounts are not Government of Canada websites and represent only our presence on third-party service providers.

For more information, please refer to our Privacy notice regarding third-party social media.

Official languages

Many social media platforms have multiple language options and provide instructions on how to set your preferences. The Government of Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that our information of is available in both French and English and that both versions are equal quality.

We reply to comments in the official language in which they are posted. If we think the response is a question of general public interest, we may respond in both official languages.

We may share links that direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and available only in the language(s) in which they are written. When content is available in only one language, we make an effort to provide similar content in the other official language.

Questions and media requests

Reporters are asked to send questions to our Media Relations Team.

CRA staff using social media

Some CRA employees post in their personal capacity under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with the CRA, the posts of employees in their personal capacity do not represent the official position of the CRA. Such posts should be considered as those of private citizens.

If you have questions about these terms of use, please contact our Social Media Team at  PA-AP_social_mediat@cra-arc.gc.ca.