Rise in online abuse forces council to update safety measures
Councillors are trying to raise awareness that elected members are the decision makers and employees implement those choices.
Online abuse is unfairly being directed at Dumfries and Galloway Council workers because members of the public don’t know how the council operates, a councillor argued this week.
As the region’s biggest employer with 6,700 staff members, the local authority recently strengthened its measures to protect employees from abusive comments on the council’s Facebook and X (Twitter) pages.
This comes after it emerged staff members were being named and vilified in response to issues with controversial council decisions.
But Lochar Councillor Linda Dorward reckons some people in the community are firing abuse at department employees because they mistake them as council decision makers.
Speaking at the council’s enabling and customer services committee on Tuesday, Councillor Dorward said: “The online abuse of staff, especially when named, is not on. It shouldn’t be happening and we should call it out if we see it.
“For us, as elected members, it’s an occupational hazard as we use social media regularly, even if we don’t want to, but council staff have no right of reply.
“I don’t think some people understand how councils operate. Why would they? I didn’t until I came into one.”
Councillor Dorward then asked if it would be possible to raise awareness in the public eye of the fact that elected members are the decision-makers – and council staff are simply implementing those decisions.
She said: “I think some people don’t understand how the processes work, and that might help to reduce that (online abuse).”
Dave Sawyer, the council’s communications manager, replied: “What we’re planning to be doing next year is continuing with the ‘respect our colleagues’ campaign.
“So that’s an excellent example of something we could build into that campaign in the new year. So thanks very much for that.”
Nith Councillor John Campbell, chair of the enabling and customer services committee, said: “And I must say that they should respect us as well.
“We shouldn’t tolerate abuse.”
This summer, the council changed its social media ‘house rules’ to help stamp out online attacks and harassment coming from behind computer screens.
The council’s communications department adopted a more proactive moderation approach, particularly on the council’s corporate Facebook page:
If a member of the public posts a comment that attacks or abuses a council employee by name, that user is then banned from the page or account.
For more general abusive comments (not naming staff but perhaps aimed at the council or others in a vulgar way), the team also acts swiftly. Such comments are deleted or hidden, and the user could be banned depending on severity/repeat offences.
This is used sparingly on Facebook as council officers insist that “the default is open public discourse”.