Three trays for the morning’s comments
Most comments need nothing more than a reply. The few that need more tend to fall into one of three piles, and each pile has its own official guidance.
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Take it down: a claim that could mislead
Someone else’s post gets your price wrong, or says your product does something it doesn’t. Where a post, a review included, could be false or misleading, the ACCC expects the business to take it down or answer it.
An answer only works if it fully undoes the wrong impression the post left, which is why the ACCC says removing the comment is usually the safer choice.
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Leave it up and answer: a complaint
A customer is unhappy and says so in public. business.gov.au’s advice is to respond quickly, acknowledge the complaint even if you don’t agree with it, avoid a generic reply, and never blame the customer or resort to personal attacks.
Once you have replied in public, it suggests carrying the conversation on in private, by the customer’s preferred method.
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Save it first: abuse or threats
A comment threatens or targets a person. eSafety asks people facing serious online abuse to hold off on clearing it away, and to gather the evidence first, since blocking the account can make that evidence vanish.
Screenshots and the page’s web address are the evidence it asks for, and the platform is the first place to report. Card 4 covers abuse step by step.
Two of these trays can hold the same comment. An angry complaint that includes a false claim about a product is still a complaint, and the false part still needs dealing with. The ACCC’s point about corrections is the one to weigh: if a reply can’t undo the impression the post gave, removal is usually the safer course.
Why a page owner answers for other people’s words
The ACCC applies the consumer law to a business’s posts on its own social media accounts, and says businesses are also responsible for comments and posts others make on their pages that are false or likely to mislead. business.gov.au says it in one breath: a business must not make false claims itself, and it should take down misleading or false posts that others leave.
The test is the false or misleading claim, not whether a comment is negative. A sharp review that is accurate is not the kind of post the ACCC’s guidance asks you to remove, and business.gov.au’s warning about deleting complaints points the other way.
House rules, pinned where people can see them
The ACCC lists three things a business should do about other people’s posts on its page:
- set clear rules for how others can post on the page, and display them prominently
- block users who break those rules
- take down, or reply to, any post or review that may be false or misleading.
eSafety’s guidance for employers adds the staff side. It suggests making it clear to customers and clients that online harassment or bullying of workers will not be tolerated, moderating public content on your platforms, and turning off comments or sharing if needed.
An example, written for this guide
Before you comment on this page
- Complaints stay up, and they get an answer.
- Posts that make false claims about our products or prices are removed.
- Abuse, threats and harassment of anyone, including the people who run this page, are saved, then removed and the account may be blocked.
- Personal details such as phone numbers and home addresses don’t belong in public comments, and are removed.
The fourth rule follows business.gov.au’s own line on privacy: never share anyone’s personal information on your public channels. A rule only works if it is applied the same way each time, which is why it helps to write it down before the first hard case arrives.
How often to look
People expect fast replies on social media, business.gov.au says, so it suggests a look at every channel no less than once a day, answering comments and private messages as you go. A daily look is also how a misleading comment gets caught before many people have read it.
It also suggests updating your complaint-handling procedures to include social media, so a complaint made in a comment is handled like one made at the counter.
The person reading the comments
Someone has to read every comment, including the unpleasant ones. eSafety lists “posting abusive comments on a business’s or worker’s social media account” among the forms online abuse at work can take, and notes that it can come from customers, clients or suppliers as well as colleagues. Work health and safety laws require employers to identify and manage risks to workers’ health and safety, including the risk of online abuse.