Social Media Policy

Social Media community rules of engagement

Our social platforms

Lothian’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages (Lothian Buses, East Coast Buses, Edinburgh Bus Tours, Lothian Country, Lothian Motorcoaches) provide a platform to share views, make comments, provide feedback and engage directly with our business.

The following guidelines aim to provide a community environment for our customers and for our supporters to share their experiences. Please take some time to read through them and keep them in mind whenever you engage with us.

We value feedback and encourage engagement and it is important to remember that postings from individuals on any of our platforms do not necessarily represent Lothian’s opinions, nor does Lothian confirm their accuracy. We welcome all questions and commentary, including constructive feedback and all posts are monitored on a regular basis. We expect all participants to post content and commentary and engage with others in a way that is both relevant and respectful to our community as a whole.

By using or accessing our social media pages, you agree to comply with Facebook’s, Twitter’s, Instagram’s and YouTube’s Terms and Conditions.

Specifically, we will not tolerate posts which are:

  • Abusive, harassing, stalking, threatening or attacking others
  • Defamatory, offensive, obscene, vulgar or depicting violence
  • Hateful in language targeting race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, nationality or political beliefs
  • Fraudulent, deceptive, misleading or unlawful
  • Trolling or deliberate disruption of discussion
  • Violations of any intellectual property rights
  • Spamming
  • Commercial solicitation or solicitation of donations
  • Link baiting (embedding of link in your post to draw traffic to your own site)
  • Posts that contain personal data

Lothian is committed to delivering a high standard of service for all of our customers, and we take the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues seriously. We understand that sometimes customers can feel strongly about issues but we ask that they bear in mind the spirit and purpose of our online social community. Violence or abuse directed towards our colleagues is considered unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This also includes behaviour or language, verbal or in writing, that may cause colleagues to feel afraid, threatened or abused. This includes threats, personal verbal abuse, offensive remarks, rudeness or the publication of photography or film footage with malicious intent.

In accordance with Lothian’s zero tolerance approach to anti social behaviour we reserve the right to report any relevant content to Police Scotland for further investigation.