The UFT elections and our social media accounts: During the UFT election season, all campaigning and electioneering are prohibited on UFT and UFT-affiliated social media accounts registered with the union. No posts or comments from caucus-affiliated accounts are allowed. All registered UFT social media accounts, including pages and groups, Instagram accounts, Threads accounts, X accounts and TikTok accounts, (together “UFT social media accounts”) are places for the UFT and its members to share ideas and information and to host an exchange of views about public education and other issues of interest to members. Such open exchanges between members are important to promoting democratic standards within the union. We therefore encourage open discussion between members and invite them to share their opinions. However, the UFT reserves the right to remove comments or material that:
· reasonably could be viewed as malicious, obscene, threatening or intimidating, that disparage members or any other persons or entities with which the UFT interacts, or that might constitute unlawful harassment. Examples include offensive posts meant to intentionally harm someone’s reputation, or posts that could contribute to a hostile work environment on the basis of race, s*x, disability, religion or any other status protected by law. Please remember that there are civil and criminal laws against certain forms of speech, such as defamation of character and unlawful harassment on the basis of race, s*x, disability, religion or any other status protected by law. Posters are responsible for what they post and should realize there may be serious consequences for illegal behavior;
· are not about public education, workers’ rights or other issues of interest to UFT members;
· invade the privacy of other individuals, including posting photos of people without their consent, or disclosing addresses, phone numbers or other identifying personal information;
· include materials that are trademarked or have copyright protection. If in doubt, post with a link that allows users to pull the materials directly from the ownership source;
· contain unauthorized promotional materials, advertisements or other commercial solicitations, including the buying, selling or trading of any commercial product or service, like personal items such as want ads, or the solicitation of money for investments or charities;
· include information or rumors about others that the poster knows to be false, or impersonate UFT spokespersons or any other forum members, such as using similar usernames or content that may reasonably be interpreted to mislead other users with respect to a person’s online identity;
· are repetitive and posted by the same individual, not designed to engage in debate about UFT policies, union governance or terms and conditions of employment, but rather to saturate a post or a UFT platform such that it
interferes with members’ discourse. Posters should strive to remain on topic when commenting on a post; or
· contain links without any explanation. The UFT reserves the right to ban offenders of this policy after a warning. UFT’s social media accounts are intended as a forum for the UFT to share information with its members and for members to discuss topics relevant to the union. The UFT will enforce its Social Media Terms of Use in order to facilitate such discussions. In doing so, the UFT may utilize automatic filters, which are offered by social media platforms, that hide posts containing inappropriate language from other users. However, nothing in this or any other UFT policy limits UFT members’ ability to participate in UFT business, or express views about UFT policies or union governance, in an orderly manner. Although the UFT social media accounts are not intended as forums for UFT employees, please note that, while decorum in communication is desired, nothing in this or any other UFT policy limits an employee’s ability to discuss or to act together to address issues of workplace concern, such as salaries, benefits, hours or other working conditions, including in instances where such communication is heated or contentious. Facebook, Instagram and other social media accounts are online networks that are open to the public. Forum members are advised that their activities on these platforms are visible to all members, including the public. Thus, users should use their best judgment when interacting with UFT social platforms. Remember that the Internet archives almost everything; therefore, even deleted comments can be searched. The UFT reserves the right to reproduce, edit or modify any content posted to its social media platforms and use it for any UFT purpose. Opinions or questions not related to a UFT social media post can be sent to the UFT in a message via Messenger or Instagram Direct Messenger.
