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Public Health Agency of Canada Twitter Terms of Use

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) uses Twitter , a free micro-blogging platform, as one tool in its efforts to communicate clearly, quickly and in an interesting manner to Canadians.

These Terms of Use describe how we will communicate with Canadians via Twitter. By participating in our Twitter account you are agreeing to these Terms of Use.

The Agency currently holds two Twitter accounts:

@phac_gc (English)

@aspc_gc (French)

These terms of use describe how we will communicate with Canadians through Twitter.

• Content
• Frequency of Tweets
• Following
• Followers
• @Replies and Direct Messages
• Media Requests
• Retweets
• Availability
• Privacy
• Official Languages
• Accessibility
• Links to other websites
• PHAC employee use of Twitter
• Additional Information

Content

If you follow us, you can expect regular broadcasts (tweets) covering some or all of the following:

• Health advisories and warnings;
• Press releases and ministerial announcements;
• Public health messages and social marketing campaign announcements.

We may also occasionally retweet (RT) content from other users we think may be of interest to our followers. Provided the content is available in both official languages, we will generally aim to honour requests from the following:

• Other government departments;
• Our partnering organizations;
• Our stakeholders and other non-profit organizations.

Frequency of Tweets

Followers can expect up to 10 tweets a day. Be advised that there may be some periods where we have fewer postings than others (for example holidays and weekends) or no postings at all.

Following

At this time, PHAC follows other Government of Canada departments and agencies as well as other institutions and organizations which we believe are relevant to the mandate of our work - specifically, as it relates to the health and safety of Canadians. This could include following Twitter accounts of non-profit organizations and associations.

PHAC's decision to follow a particular Twitter account does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Followers

Similarly, the appearance of a Twitter user as a follower of a PHAC account does not imply endorsement.

We will take steps to remove or block a follower if that follower does not abide by Twitter's terms of service .

@Replies and Direct Messages

We welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. All @Replies and Direct Messages (DMs) will be read and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the Agency.

Although we are not able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter, possible responses to @Replies and Direct Messages will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

We will disregard @phac_gc and @aspc_gc tweets containing:

• racist, defamatory or libellous comments
• threats, obscenity or vulgarity
• spam or advertising
• private information pertaining to another person
• copyrighted material belonging to another person
• links to inappropriate Web sites

Please take note that we cannot engage in rendering medical advice, nor can we discuss issues of party politics.

Details on contacting the Agency can be found on the PHAC Contact us page.

Media Requests

We encourage the media to follow traditional channels to make a media request and visit our media room.

Retweets

Users may retweet (RT) material posted to the PHAC accounts provided that the content is not changed and proper credit is given.

PHAC may retweet relevant material posted by other Government of Canada Twitter accounts and/or other accounts determined to be relevant to our followers and of significant value. This may include food recalls, health promotion messages, research findings and other relevant messages.

Availability

We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, we aim to update and monitor our Twitter account during regular office hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. The Agency is not responsible for offering this service outside of the stipulated hours.

Twitter may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service owing to Twitter downtime.

Privacy

PHAC account is not a Government of Canada website and represents our presence on Twitter, a third-party service provider. Users are encouraged to read its privacy policy .

Information shared with PHAC on Twitter is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act , which means that the information may be accessed and disclosed in response to a request under either of these acts.

Users are advised not to share personal information. Personal information includes 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 . Should you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this notice, please contact the Agency Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division .

Official Languages

PHAC respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both French and English, of equal quality. Tweets will be posted simultaneously in both official languages - in English on the @phac_gc account, and in French on the @aspc_gc account. @Replies that require a response will be answered in the official language of origin.

However, users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.

Twitter.com is available in multiple languages including English and French. To change your settings in Twitter, select either "English" or "French" from the language selection menu available in your account settings.

Accessibility

The Government of Canada is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility and is working to address issues with third-party service provider platforms. If you have any problems accessing any information on the site, an accessible version of Twitter is available or visit this website for fully accessible content.

Twitter, as a third party network, is not bound by Government of Canada policies for web accessibility.

Links to other websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided for the convenience of users. We are not responsible for the accuracy, currency, or reliability of the content of other sites. We do not offer any guarantee in that regard. We are not responsible for the information found through these links, nor do we endorse the sites or their content.

PHAC employee use of Twitter

Some PHAC employees might tweet outside of work hours and in their personal capacity under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with PHAC, their tweets do not represent the official position of the Agency, and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.

Additional Information

If you are looking for information about the Agency, please consult our website (publichealth.gc.ca). The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our website.

Please see our Important Notices page for additional information.