Barnet Football Club believes in open communication across all its channels and both shares and embraces the passion fans have for their teams, communities and game as a whole. It is the same passion that drives supporter attendance at matches around the country week in, week out and keeps fans globally hooked on the action.

The online conversation around our game is continuously evolving and there are now multiple platforms for engagement. These avenues provide a vibrant, ever-changing place for people to come together to support their Clubs and provide the opportunity to positively engage in meaningful conversations around the game we all love.

Ultimately, the EFL and its Clubs believe everyone has the right to express their opinions and beliefs in a respectful and tolerant way online. Football is, after all, very much a game of opinions. However, we are also aware of the potential risks associated specifically with the misuse of online platforms. Such risks might impact on any number of stakeholders, either directly or indirectly, be it Clubs, players, staff, supporters, partners or sponsors, for example.

Therefore, in order to strive for a safe, enjoyable and inclusive experience, we continue to work with football authorities, partners, law enforcement agencies and the technology platforms to help create a positive social media environment and we will not hesitate to take action against any individuals or organisations who breach laws and guidelines.

The following guidelines offer transparency into how we hold ourselves and our communities to account for online activity. These are the standards we as a Club expect and will uphold, across its online channels and outline measures we will take to maintain these standards, along with action individuals can take to help keep all fans and participants safe online.

Standards we uphold on our channels

Impartiality – we are a part of the oldest football league in the world and have a collective duty of care, alongside the EFL and our fellow clubs, to ensure that we represent each of our players and staff equally across all platforms. We aim to speak in positive terms about all of our players and staff.

Respect – there is a strong sense of rivalry between fans of different clubs and we believe that to be a good thing. However, it must also be founded in decency and respect. We have zero tolerance for racism, misogyny, express or implied threats of harassment of physical harm, or hate speech.

We will not tolerate comments or any form of speech – including emojis, GIFs or rich media – which dehumanises, ridicules, condones or promotes violence against a protected class of people.

A responsible approach – when we share content online, we represent our Club, our people and our values. Anything that is published will be rooted in truth, without attempting to mislead followers or fans. While we may occasionally make mistakes, we will always aim to be honest and transparent and admit to them immediately, before following through with any additional courses of action which are required.

To uphold our values – we aim to ensure that content shared on our social media channels upholds and reflects the values listed above. Equally, we acknowledge that engagements taken from our channels such as sharing or ‘liking’ third-party content can be considered endorsements and must also reflect our core values. Additionally, our employees are aware that when they post on social media – either personally or professionally – that they represent the club and are the public face of our values.

To be fan-facing – we treat all fans and followers of our social media accounts with the respect they deserve and ask that they would do the same for us. We will not tolerate abuse against our players, staff or admins on social media and will treat instances of abuse in a manner consistent with the level of abuse.

Unacceptable content

We will not tolerate any online behaviour directed at official Club channels, or towards staff and players – be that directly to the individual’s account or by identifying them in posts – that constitutes discriminatory behaviour, hate speech, violence, threats and criminal activity. We further define such behaviour as follows:

Discriminatory language or hate speech describes forms of communication or expression that promotes or encourage violence, hatred or discrimination against others, particularly because of their ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, transgender identity, disability, national origin or immigration status. It can take the form of:

• Offensive social media posts or comments
• Foul and abusive language
• Direct attacks on an individual via their personal accounts
• Threats
• Messages or posts calling for violence
• Links to websites with pictures, videos or words that glorify hatred against particular groups
• Chat forums where people encourage others to commit hate crimes
• Cyberbullying and trolling

We define attacks as violent or dehumanising speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation. We consider age a protected characteristic when referenced along with another protected characteristics.

We define hate crime as a crime against someone because of who they are. Characteristics covered by law include race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. When hate speech becomes a criminal offence, it is known as hate crime. We will also not tolerate harassment, which we define as the persistent targeting of particular individuals through digital posts or messages and criticism that crosses into individual attacks of a personal nature .

Action we will take

We have dedicated staff who own and oversee all content published across social media channels, including issuing and revoking access to any necessary third parties. Part of the team’s responsibility is to identify any breach of these online community standards and both flag and take action if any content viewed on our channels, or directed at staff or players, is deemed to be abusive, be classed as hate speech or discriminatory, as defined above. If such content is spotted, these teams are empowered to:

• Capture necessary evidence
• Remove the content
• Block the user
• Report the user to law enforcement
• Issue a Club ban
• Share with the United Kingdom Football Policing Unit and other relevant stakeholders
• Report the user to social media companies
• Alert the EFL

In short, anyone who is determined to have contravened these standards could find themselves blocked from viewing our accounts and could face prosecution.