Here at the NZ Herald, we want to foster a safe online community by reducing instances of hate, racism, abuse and misinformation. And we don’t want you to inadvertentlybreak the law.
As journalists, we serve the interests of the public. Our role is to inform and entertain you and this includes sharing articles on social media platforms such as Facebook and inviting readers to offer their views.
We welcome your feedback on articles but there has to be some parameters and these are explained in our community house rules.
These clearly explain that we will not publish comments that are insulting, inflammatory or derogatory or those that spread misinformation or include personal attacks.
You’re allowed to disagree with someone else’s opinion. We simply ask that you’re not disagreeable in the way you do so.
We take pride in hosting readers’ thoughts and opinions – but we are not here to enable trolls, pile-ons, attacks on other commenters or to post comments that risk breaking the law.
Moderating these comments each day is a mammoth task for our social media team – we have more than 1.4 million followers on Facebook alone.
Everybody has an opinion, and we want to hear yours.
We want to see our stories flooded with comments. We want to see as many of our stories as possible with comments left open. But it needs to be within the bounds of our community house rules. We cannot tolerate hate. We cannot tolerate abuse towards individuals in our stories or other commenters. We cannot tolerate misinformation.
Just don't be a dick.
We’re not stopping only you from commenting
There are times when we turn off comments on articles and the reasons are explained further below.
But it’s important to explain that when we do turn off comments they are automatically closed to everyone - not just you. You can still view the comments made previously, but when comments have been turned off yours will not appear.
It is never a case of “censoring” any particular viewpoint, or moderators only approving opinions with which they agree.
When comments are closed they are closed to everyone and sometimes we will post to explain why they have been closed. And no, in instances when your comment isn’t appearing, you haven’t been “banned” (so there’s no need to message us...).
How Facebook appears to the user when comments are switched off.
How the law applies
A common reason for turning off comments, or declining to publish them, is when they risk breaking NZ laws.
This can include defamatory comments either about subjects in the article or to other commenters. We can potentially be sued for defamation as the host of our Facebook page – and so could you as the person making the comment.
This law remains untested in New Zealand, but in Australia the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled companies operating public Facebook pages are liable for defamation contained in comments on their page.
Another legal factor for closing comments is the rules regarding sub-judice, which prevents public discussion of a pending criminal prosecution. This includes preventing information relating to the alleged crime and the person or people charged with an offence.
Then there is the matter of contempt, such as breaching a suppression order issued by a court (such as name suppression). Any attempt to breach a suppression order is a contempt of court and punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 or six months in prison.
Moderating comments on Facebook is a huge job. In just one hour, some stories can attract almost 1000 comments.
A team member needs to read each comment and ensure it complies with our house rules – and, at the same time, cover live news and other responsibilities. And keep doing that for approximately 90 other stories we post in one day (and that’s just Facebook!).
Instead, if we think there’s capacity to moderate, we’ll leave comments open for as long as we can and turn them off when we finish our shift. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s a realistic one.
At times, we may miss comments that are clearly out of line. If you notice this, please DM us so we can quickly take care of it.
How can you tell when we have closed comments?
This isn't personal.
It’s not personal. When we turn off comments, they’re closed for everyone.
Facebook gives us four options when choosing who can comment on the post, and we always choose the most restricted option as we intend for no one to be able to comment.
The message you will see states: “nzherald.co.nz limited who can comment on this post” – this is Facebook’s message (not ours) and it’s pretty unhelpful and vague. But this is what everyone sees when we have chosen to turn off comments. Unspecific to individuals, but specific to that story.
Love commenting? Facebook isn’t the only place to have your say
NZ Herald has several spaces where one can express their thoughts on stories.
You can leave comments on our website or other social media channels (find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, WhatsApp and X) – these also are bound by community guidelines and closely moderated. It should go without saying that you’re welcome to share articles with any other chat group you belong to and say whatever you want.
Also, when people choose to subscribe to our Premium service they have the ability to comment on stories on our website. The little blue speech icon next to the headline indicates that comments are open on the article – and again, our house rules apply.
