Welcome to the official social media channels of the Berlin University Alliance. We look forward to your comments and want to establish a mode of communication here that is fair and respectful. We are happy to receive constructive criticism and discuss issues with you, but the tone should always be respectful.

Please keep in mind the following rules of netiquette:

• Make sure that you are being respectful to others: No insults or obscenities; no personal attacks or racist, antisemitic, homophobic, or sexist comments; no accusations, laying blame, or unsubstantiated claims.
• Stay on topic: Comments need to relate specifically to the original post. If they don’t, they may be deleted.
• Do not post the same comment multiple times.

Do not share unverified information. Posts that include disinformation, falsehoods, assumptions, and “theories” that cannot be backed by logical arguments or reliable sources will be deleted from our comments section. This also includes any quotes, images, diagrams, and videos that do not come from a reputable source. You should cite your sources correctly when quoting or sharing content from others. Also be aware of copyright laws and intellectual property rights.

Our team reserves the right to delete, hide, or report comments to the specific platform provider if they violate our netiquette guidelines or contain illicit content. Criminal violations such as slander or threats will be documented, and the authorities will be notified.

In addition, the following rules apply regarding interactions that take place via our social media channels: 

We do not tolerate comments that are racist, extremist, pornographic, derogatory, slanderous, or defamatory.

• We do not tolerate comments that incite violence – whether that violence is against individuals, institutions, or businesses.
• We do not tolerate threats of any kind.
• We do not tolerate unfounded accusations and suspicions, or comments that attempt to sway sentiments for or against a person or group of people.
• You are also not allowed to publicly distribute people’s postal addresses, email addresses, or telephone numbers.
• Nor are you allowed to publicly distribute the contents of someone’s personal correspondence (letters, emails, etc.).
• We also do not allow comments that use full quotations without the express permission of the copyright holder (e.g., no sharing full news articles by copying them into a comment).
• We also do not tolerate the use of the comments section for advertising purposes.
• You may not distribute information regarding commercial or private offers for products or services via our social media channels.

We reserve the right to hide or delete comments and posts that contain illegal content, that do not contribute to a constructive discussion, or that violate any of the points mentioned above in our netiquette guidelines. 

We also reserve the right to ban users from our platform temporarily or permanently if they repeatedly violate our rules of netiquette, if they commit extremely egregious violations, or if it becomes apparent that they are not interested in contributing to a constructive discussion. Prior warning will generally be given in these cases. In the event of particularly serious violations of our guidelines, in particular where content is punishable by law or seriously abusive, users may be banned with no prior warning.

Finally, we reserve the right to make changes and additions to these guidelines.

Please note that the terms and conditions of the individual social media platforms also apply.