Social Media Terms of Use

The Ontario College of Pharmacists (College) uses social media (including but not limited to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube) to share information about the College and the regulation of pharmacy, and to communicate with registrants, patients, members of the public and other stakeholders. We strive to respond to directed relevant social media inquiries in a timely manner during regular business hours; however urgent matters including complaints, reports and concerns should be directed to the College by phone or email or the College’s website for complaints/reports.

Rules for posting content

The College welcomes user participation and engagement with content on its social media sites that relates to the College or the subject being discussed. It also reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to edit its posts for clarification or to hide or remove posts by third-party commenters that:

  • may be considered obscene or that use offensive language;
  • contain abusive, harassing or threatening remarks;
  • include hateful, discriminatory or defamatory content or language;
  • discuss an ongoing College investigation, which are confidential under law;
  • breach a law, standard or rule, or that encourage conduct that may or would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability and/or is contrary to Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
  • may be considered false or misleading;
  • share personal or confidential information;
  • constitute spam or advertise products or services;
  • are off-topic or grossly unrelated to the College’s posts or its mandate;
  • contain content posted without the necessary rights or licenses.

The College also reserves the right to restrict or block a third-party user from participating, commenting or engaging on the College’s social media channels for violations of these Terms of Use. The College may also report to individual social media sites any behaviour that it considers to be a potential violation of the terms of use/community rules defined by individual social media sites.

Disclaimers and Agreements
  • Third-party users/engagers of the College’s social media channels are fully responsible for any comments or content they post; the College is in no way responsible for such comments and content posted by others nor for any information, references, links, opinions, claims, or advice in such comments and content. The College is also not responsible for collecting, reviewing, updating, editing, retaining, returning, sharing, circulating, acting upon, considering, or responding to third-party comments or content, except at its sole discretion in consideration of its mandate.
  • By engaging with any of the College’s social media sites (including without limitation by posting any comment or content), each user agrees to indemnify the College and to hold the College harmless from any liability, loss, damage or expense, including without limitation professional and other fees and expenses, arising out of such user’s use of any of the College’s social media site(s), and any comments or content posted.
  • While the College uses social media to help extend the reach of important messages and updates, the information the College posts on its social media channels alone should not be considered official College policies or guidance. For complete and comprehensive guidance and policy information, users should consult/visit the College website.
  • While the College makes reasonable efforts to share or reference content from trusted, reputable sources on its social media channels, it is not responsible for verifying the accuracy of information on third-party sites. The College follows selected third-party social media accounts including stakeholders, members of the media, and practitioners. The College’s decision to follow or share content and/or links from a particular user or organization should not be interpreted as endorsement of that user or organization, content of the post or website, or of any organization(s) linked to, or mentioned by the post.
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