Overview

• The guidelines take effect immediately, replace the ABC’s previous social media rules, and apply to any setting where comments may reasonably reach a public audience.
• Staff are assigned to risk tiers, with senior leaders, journalists and editorial decision makers deemed high risk and performers such as actors and artists considered lower risk.
• Employees are instructed to avoid public comments that could undermine their ability to perform their role, compromise the ABC’s integrity or independence, imply ABC endorsement, or represent the ABC without approval.
• Editorial director Gavin Fang told staff the ABC does not seek to curtail civic participation, while news boss Justin Stevens cautioned against public partisanship and noted some staff face trolling and organised monitoring.
• The ABC has not said whether Lattouf’s 2023 Human Rights Watch post would breach the new rules, after a June ruling found her dismissal unlawful and awarded $70,000, with legal fees reported at more than $1 million.