Our social media moderation guidelines

This policy was updated in December 2021.

The NSPCC has its own presence on many social media channels and we encourage you to connect with us on these networks. The following moderation guidelines relate to the NSPCC’s social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

Our social media channels are a safe space for you to talk to one another about the NSPCC’s work, fundraising campaigns and news. It’s also a place for people to engage with the NSPCC and ask questions about our work. On our pages, we will provide up to date information about our services and fundraising campaigns.

All comments, messages, wall posts and tweets are moderated and we want to avoid anything being shared on our page that could put you or others at risk. We want our platforms to be a safe and helpful place for our communities.

There are some instances where we will have to hide or delete posts to keep you or someone else safe. Posts that we will hide or delete are:

  • Comments about abuse – past, present or risks of abuse in the future.
  • Comments about a child or young person being hurt.
  • Comments about your conversations with our helpline or personal information about your experience using our services.
  • Personal details about you or other people, including contact details.
  • Comments that could be libellous or defamatory, for example, if an accusation is made against a named person.

We want our channels to be a friendly place, so the NSPCC reserves the right to hide or delete any comments or content deemed to be inappropriate. If a post breaks the rules listed below or could be distressing or upsetting to others, we may need to hide and/or delete it and if necessary - dependent on frequency, scale or content posted - we reserve the right to ‘ban’ or ‘block’ users who persistently break these rules. These include posts with:

  • Abusive, aggressive, hurtful or hateful content.
  • Threats.
  • Abusive language directed towards the NSPCC and/or NSPCC people and partners (staff, volunteers, supporters).
  • Content of a sexually-explicit nature.
  • Comments that use inappropriate language or hate speech. This includes language that mentions nationality, race, religion or racist, homophobic, biphobic, sexist, ableist, disablist, classist and transphobic content. 
  • Inappropriate language also includes swearing.
  • Defamatory comments.
  • Personal or organisational attacks or threats.
  • Off-topic posts.
  • Advertisements or spam.
  • Comments or imagery that violate the privacy of our staff.
  • Inclusion of personal and/or contact details, including but not limited to names, telephone numbers and postal or email addresses
  • Breach of any of the terms of any of the social media platforms themselves: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
  • User is posting off-topic, redundant or repeated comments by repeatedly adding negative comments to our posts, even when not relevant to the subject matter.
  • Posts encouraging anything illegal or breaking the law - including but not limited to breach of copyright, defamation or contempt of court.
  • User is repeatedly tagging NSPCC account(s) in a hostile manner or repeating the same message multiple times.
  • User appears to impersonate someone else without their consent.

Our channels are moderated daily year-round with reduced support on weekends and Bank Holidays. We aim to respond to questions or those that need supporter guidance within 48 hours.

If you’re worried about a child, or you work with children and need advice or information, you can call our helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk. You can also find more information here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/get-advice-and-support/ .
In an emergency, please contact the police on 999.

If you have any questions about our House Rules or are concerned that someone is using our pages inappropriately, you can email socialmedia@nspcc.org.uk.