Increasingly toxic communication has been cited as a leading reason for the Dunedin City Council turning off comments on its main Facebook page.

The council said it was no longer inviting open commentary on its posts because of increasingly toxic activity and misinformation.

“While many comments are neutral or irrelevant, the abusive minority takes a toll, especially when threads become personal,” the council said in a statement on its website.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been moderating the nastier comments and profanities and blocking fake accounts, but our filters get routinely circumvented.

“So, we are removing the issue.”

The council said rules of engagement had been in place for some time.

“But those who want to be abusive or use disrespectful, derogatory language just navigate those rules with misspellings and other workarounds.”

Individual staff were sometimes targeted, the council said.

“We’ve decided not to empower this any more because our staff’s health and wellbeing outweigh the benefit of having this particular open forum.”

Perceived lack of respect for council staff has been a theme this term, including relating to interaction with some elected representatives.

The council said Facebook would still be used for presenting information, including in emergencies.

The council would continue to answer direct messages through Facebook Messenger and respond to emails, phone calls and in-person contact.

It would still welcome constructive complaints, opinions and debate, the statement said.

The situation would be reviewed in six months and 12 months.

In a segment that included the phrase “toughen up, you bunch of snowflakes” in the heading, the council asked how many abusive or derogatory comments might be tolerated or “do you choose not to accept it at all?”.

“We no longer accept that our staff should spend valuable ratepayer time and dollars moderating this type of commentary.

“Nor do we accept that our community should have to read or chip in to moderate the bad behaviour of their peers.”

The council said other councils had switched off their Facebook comments function as a last resort to combat abuse, misinformation and irrelevance.

The “reactions” function would remain.

“We’re only removing the opportunity for abusive pile-on.”

Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said it was an operational decision and she supported it as a six-month trial for the communications and engagement team.

“Online abuse has become increasingly prevalent towards councils, councillors and staff.” 

Ms Barker said there were strong and negative impacts for those dealing with it.

“Our expectation is around respectful communication, not a cesspool for our teams to wade through.”

The council said the Facebook page had been used as a place for people to leave an opinion, chat, ask questions and, “seemingly, swear at us”.

“We have many other channels for meaningful engagement, and we strongly encourage people to explore and use them.”