SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

Australian Football International (AFI) is committed to online safety.

It is important to understand that content posted on Social Media can have serious ramifications for the person involved, AFI and other Controlling Bodies, their people, commercial partners or other related organisations and individuals.

Comments may be mistakenly attributed to AFI or other Controlling Body in some circumstances. It is therefore important that a person always think twice before posting.

Before using Social Media, AFI encourages all persons to ask themselves the following questions:

  • Am I revealing any sensitive or confidential information?
  • Would I want my Club, Coach, team, family or friends to see this?
  • Will I regret my actions?
  • Could this negatively impact the reputation of AFI, other Controlling Body or a Club?
  • Could this be seen as inappropriate, discriminatory, defamatory or in breach of any laws?

1. Behavioural standards on Social Media

When using Social Media, a person must:

  • respect the privacy of others;
  • ensure that content published is factually accurate;
  • be polite and respectful with others; and
  • adhere to the terms of use of the relevant Social Media, as well as copyright, privacy, defamation, contempt of court, discrimination, harassment and other applicable laws.

2. Prohibited conduct on Social Media

When using Social Media, a person must not:

  • post or engage with (e.g. like, comment on, share, forward) material that is abusive, offensive, obscene, disparaging, defamatory, threatening, harassment, bullying, discriminatory, homophobic, hateful, racist, sexist, infringes copyright, constitutes a contempt of court, breaches a court suppression order, or is otherwise unlawful;
  • talk negatively about a Controlling Body, its employees, its competitors, corporate partners, broadcast partners, sponsors, or customers/fans or any other related organisation;
  • represent a personal view as that of a Controlling Body;
  • bring a Controlling Body’s brand and reputation into disrepute;
  • post or release any Controlling Body information or material (including images or video) prior to its official launch or announcement by the Controlling Body in the public domain;
  • plagiarise or breach copyright of another person;
  • access, download or transmit any kind of sexually explicit material (including child pornography), violent and/or graphic images (without medical purpose);
  • access, download or transmit information on the use and construction of weapons, explosives and/or other tools of violence or terrorism; or
  • breach the reasonable expectation of privacy of a person.

3. Official Social Media engagement

Before engaging in Social Media as a representative of a Controlling Body, a person must be formally authorised to do so by the relevant Controlling Body.