Oxford Mail has no-tolerance policy on abusive, racist or hateful comments

We currently allow comments as a principle on our website. We think it's important that users are able to have an opinion, or share anecdotal evidence on our stories.

We also post our stories to social media. The reason we post our stories to social media are one; the public has a right to information and social media is a quick way of sharing that information. Two, it is very easy for rumour and misinformation from unverified sources to spread on social media. It is vital that trusted news providers have a platform on social media and are able to dispel said misinformation.

On social media, readers are free to comment. The Oxford Mail does not have the ability - as we could on stories on our site - to disable comments on Facebook and Twitter.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. And whether you realise it or not, when you decide to comment on social media you are using your power either for good, or bad.

Across the last few weeks, the Oxford Mail has seen and dealt with hundreds of unacceptable, abusive and simply racist comments on our own website and social media. Much of this has come from stories concerning Black Lives Matter. 

We will continue to write stories in the public interest without fear, but -

We have a no-tolerance policy when it comes to abusive, racist or hateful comments.

We're all for public debate - but abuse, whether that's of our staff, of other site users, or of marginalised groups, is unacceptable.

To some extent, abusive comments online have always been an issue since the dawn of the internet. But in the last few months it has worsened significantly. And we won't put up with it.

Journalists are key workers. They live in our community and they work around the clock to provide a news service for Oxfordshire. They do not deserve to be abused.

They do not deserve to go to work and be threatened, or told to 'f**k off and die' or to be called profanities which can not be repeated in a family newspaper - yet these are all examples of abuse they've faced during lockdown. Comments they have to spend their own time sifting through, absorbing and dealing with. 

Similarly, we will not tolerate our platforms being used to abuse other readers or commenters.

It's important to stress that these abhorrent comments are posted by a tiny minority – but we won't allow them to ruin the platform for the vast majority who engage in reasonable discourse.

Users who violate the terms and conditions of our site will be banned - both from our site and social media. In serious cases, where language is extremely abusive, threatening or racist, users will be reported to the police.

That's why you'll see a new message on the bottom of certain stories giving this warning.

How can users help us?

If you see a comment which you believe violates our T&Cs, you can report it using the comments complaint function. Newsdesk will receive a notification to review the comment. Reporting in this way helps us keep track of users who persistently violate the T&Cs and take action against them.

On Facebook, if you see a comment on our page that you believe needs to be removed, please message our page with the post you saw it on, what it said and who posted it – then we can investigate. We need this level of detail as we post dozens of stories every day, receiving hundreds of comments.

If you’re concerned about any comments in our Facebook groups, please use the report function to flag the comment to an admin.

Hate speech is not the same as free speech. We will not allow our platforms to be used for the former and obstruction of the latter.

We know that some people will persistently break the rules, post hateful comments and abuse - but we know that says more about them than it does the public at large.

However, it doesn't mean we have to put up with it. With your help we can clean up our little corner of the internet and make it a much more pleasant experience for all.