Social Media Policy
The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG) is excited to expand our social media presence. While we are committed to having a dialogue with our followers, please keep in mind the following rules, regulations, and guidelines when interacting with our pages to ensure a healthier, safer, and more positive social media environment.
User Engagement
The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government counts on you to use @ messages in a way that contributes to the dialogue. Please support any claims with links to information sources whenever possible.
COELIG strives to respond to as many relevant questions and comments as possible, but we reserve the right to use our judgment in selecting the messages we respond to.
The posting and presence of content on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn does not necessarily mean that COELIG agrees with the content, ensures its accuracy, or otherwise approves of it. Nothing on any social media page constitutes a binding representation, agreement or an endorsement on the part of COELIG. Please review each website’s terms of use carefully when engaging on the site.
Communications made to COELIG’s social media pages will not be considered formal public comment and shall not constitute official legal notice to the State or requests for records under the Freedom of Information Law. Such submissions will not be acknowledged.
Rules and Regulations
Don’t do anything that breaks the law.
Be polite and courteous. Excessive name calling, profanity, fighting words, discriminatory epithets, sexual harassment, bullying, gruesome language, or the like, will not be tolerated.
Stay on topic. Keep the conversation relevant to the community and contribute to the dialogue. We reserve the right to remove content that is off-topic, out of context, spam, promotional or links to third-party sites.
Keep it real. All posts should come from a real person and a real profile. Postings from fake or anonymous profiles will be deleted when discovered.
We reserve the right to remove content. Content posted to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn that violates these guidelines can and will be removed.
Website Usage
New York State agencies’ social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter pages, are located within host sites that maintain their own terms of service, terms of use, privacy policies, or other rules (“Terms of Service”, TOS) governing the use of these sites. You are subject to the TOS of the host site when you visit a New York State agency social media site. Information (photos, videos, messages, etc.) you share with or post to New York State agency pages may be used by the owners of the host site for their own purposes pursuant to its TOS. For more information, consult the host website's TOS.
Our social media pages may link to other agencies and, in some cases, to private organizations. You are subject to those sites’ privacy policies.
Reference on these pages to any specific commercial product, process, service, manufacturer, political actor, or company is not an endorsement or recommendation by the State government or COELIG. COELIG is not responsible for the contents of other websites.
When visiting our social media pages, your browser may also produce pop-up advertisements. These advertisements were most likely produced by other websites you visited or third-party software on your computer. COELIG does not endorse or recommend products or services for which you may see a pop-up advertisement while visiting our site.
The information on COELIG social media pages is only intended to be general summary information for public use. This information does not replace written law or regulations.
Reporting Misconduct
The New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government investigates potential violations of the State's ethics laws (Public Officers Law §§ 73, 73-a, and 74), the "Little Hatch Act" (Civil Service Law § 107), and the Lobbying Act (Legislative Law Article 1-A) as they apply to State legislators, candidates for the Legislature and legislative employees, the four statewide elected officials, candidates for those offices, executive branch state employees, certain political party chairs, and lobbyists and their clients.
Any person may file a complaint, tip, or claim with the Commission. The complaint, tip, or claim should identify the individual or entity (respondent) alleged to have violated the law, include any facts or evidence that allege a violation of State ethics laws in Public Officers Law § 73, § 73-a, § 74, the "Little Hatch Act" in Civil Service Law § 107, or the "Lobbying Act" in Legislative Law Article 1-A. All complaints, tips, and claims are reviewed by the Commission.
All complaints, tips, or claims must be submitted by phone, email, letter, or through the Commission’s online tip reporting form, and may be submitted anonymously. Any complaints, tips, or claims reported via social media will not be considered an official report to the Commission. Please visit https://ethics.ny.gov/report-misconduct for more information on reporting misconduct.