The British Council has a special responsibility to its UK and international audiences when hosting discussions on its websites at times of conflict. At such times some of our audiences may expect us to provide space online for a wide range of views and opinions which other audiences may find challenging. We will only do this in ways which make our positive intent to increase intercultural understanding explicit.
There are special sensitivities about issues such as operational military action, about not naming casualties until next-of-kin have been informed, and about how to handle unsubstantiated rumours. This applies particularly to user-generated content.
On such occasions, we may publish additional guidelines to the effect that:
 |
 |
|
we will concentrate comment and debate about the conflict in a limited number of spaces, with additional hosting and moderation, to maintain a full debate |
|
|
|
we will be prepared to switch to premoderation if necessary |
|
|
|
we may ask for claims or statements by third parties to be attributed so that their status becomes easier for our users to evaluate. |
| 
