Interacting with Shared Services Canada on social media

This notice has been prepared to explain how Shared Services Canada interacts with the public on social media platforms.

Content and frequency

We use our social media accounts as an alternative method of sharing the content posted on our website and interacting with our stakeholders. By following our social media accounts (“following,” “liking” or “subscribing”) you can expect to see information about the programs and services we provide.

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 posted Monday to Friday between 8 am and 5 pm EST/EDT. Comments posted after hours, on weekends or on statutory holidays will be read and responded to during regular business hours.

Because social media platform servers are managed by a third party, our social media accounts are subject to downtime that may be out of our control. As a result, 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 (retweeting, reposting or linking to) content from another user.

Comments and interactions

We will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. We ask that your comments be relevant and respectful. We reserve the right to delete comments that violate this notice, and users may be blocked and reported to prevent further inappropriate comments.

As a public service organization, we cannot engage in issues of party politics. We will also not answer questions that break the rules of this notice.

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, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or life‑threatening messages
• put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against an individual or an organization
• 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
• do not, in our opinion, add to the normal flow of the discussion

In short, please be respectful and make sure your comments are relevant to where they are posted.

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

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.

Information shared on Shared Services Canada social media accounts is subject to the Access to Information Act.

We strongly advise users not to post personal information, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, and any other information consisting of personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act. Please note that Shared Services Canada does not intend to collect any personal information that may be submitted via social media channels.

Official languages

Many social media platforms have multiple language options and provide instructions on how to set preferences. The Government of Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that our information is available in both English and French and that both versions are of 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 are available only in the language(s) in which they are written. When content is available in only one language, we try to provide similar content in the other official language.

Questions and media requests

Media requests should be sent to media@ssc-spc.gc.ca.

Other Shared Services Canada staff on social media

Some Shared Services Canada staff post on social media under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with Shared Services Canada, their posts do not represent the official position of the department and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.

Our staff must adhere to the behaviours outlined in the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector at all times, including while using social media.  

Additional information

For information about the department, please consult Shared Services Canada’s website.

Should you wish to contact us, you can find detailed information about our coordinates in Contact Shared Services Canada.