We in the Northern Independence Party are building a movement for an independent North and a better world. How our members and representatives behave when using social media or appearing in digital spaces directly affects how our movement is seen by the public whose confidence we seek. This policy clarifies the conduct we expect from our members and representatives when they are participating in online conversations.
Guidance for All Party Members
- In all our online activities we will strive to uphold the values on which our movement was founded. We must behave at all times as representatives of our movement to the public.
- We will abide by all party rules — including those governing our conduct — when using social media. We must not bring our party into disrepute through our online activities.
- We each accept responsibility for the content we post and share, and that our online activities are subject to our party’s Disciplinary Rules. We must not make or share statements we are unwilling to stand behind, and we must assume that all we post can and will be repeated by our political opponents.
- Personal is not the same as private. We must treat all content posted to social media — even if only viewable by friends and family — as being available to our political opponents.
- Because social media is public, it is not the appropriate place to argue with or criticise each other. Our political opponents will take any opportunity we give them to embarrass us and undermine our movement. When we discuss contentious issues, we must keep these discussions in private; when we have concerns, we must raise our concerns by the appropriate private channels.
- Because social media is public, it is not the appropriate place to share information that is confidential to our movement. When we share sensitive or personal information, we must do so in private.
- We must be honest about our relationship to our party. Only those of us who have been designated as spokespeople by the National Executive Committee may claim to speak for our movement.
- We must be clear when representing our party’s political and policy positions. Where our opinions differ from the party, we must be clear about these distinctions: we must not misrepresent our party to the public.
- We must not engage in any unacceptable online behaviours.
- No threats of harm against others;
- No unwelcome sexual advances, including the use of sexualised imagery;
- No bigotry of any kind, including racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and bigotry against the GRT communities; and
- No publishing information that is private to individuals, also known as doxxing.
- Where we suspect that a member of our party or member of the public may be in danger due to concerning online behaviour, we must tell our party by emailing [email protected] right away. Where we have concerns about the online behaviour of fellow party members, we must raise these concerns to the party by emailing [email protected] with evidence of any suspected misbehaviour.
Guidance for Party Spokespeople
Party spokespeople must abide by the above guidance for all members. All statements made on behalf of our party must be cleared in advance with the National Communications Officer or a duly delegated recipient of their authority. In addition, our spokespeople are held to a higher standard than regular members, and when in doubt should avoid posting controversial or potentially ambiguous content online without seeking the assistance and approval of the National Communications Officer and their team.