House Rules
Welcome to Cancer Research UK’s official Facebook page. This is your space to talk to others affected by cancer, share experiences and find the latest information about our life-saving work.
At Cancer Research UK we are committed to providing quality, up-to-date information about cancer. We want this page to be a safe, helpful and supportive environment for our community.
When you post content or comments on this page, you are agreeing to follow our house rules (below). If a post breaks these rules we may need to remove it and, if necessary, WE WILL ban individuals who persistently ignore these rules.
Play fair, show respect for others and please do not post the following:
- Offensive, abusive, hateful, xenophobic or racist content or links
- Insensitive, inappropriate or upsetting content, comments or links
- Advertisements and spam
- Defamatory comments
- Unrelated, repetitive or off-topic posts
- Fraudulent, deceptive or misleading content
- Posts encouraging anything illegal
- Trollish behaviour or posts and comments intended to deliberately provoke others
- Anything that infringes the intellectual property or privacy rights of others
We also have specific rules on posts about cancer research and treatments. Please feel free to post:
- Valid questions about research into the causes of and treatments for cancer
- Information about cancer research or treatments if they are accompanied by evidence of its promise and efficacy through the inclusion of a link to a peer-reviewed scientific paper.
- News stories from reputable organisations about cancer research and treatment
BUT do NOT post:
- Statements of fact claiming to be a cure for cancer. Posting about “miracle cures” gives false hope, spreads misinformation and can cause people affected by cancer a great deal of anxiety. We take this very seriously. We can assure you that we will shout as loudly as possible about effective and proven treatments for cancer. Any posts about universal cures for cancer that are not backed up by peer-reviewed clinical data will be deleted immediately.
- Conspiracy theories. Despite what some people may claim, we are not working with A) pharmaceutical industry; b) ANY governmental bodies or agencies to withhold information or suppress a cure. If you have a genuine question about how drugs are developed, or research is carried out, please feel free to ask. But if you just want to accuse us and other researchers of a grand conspiracy without any valid information to back up your claim, we will delete your post.
If you think that someone is misusing the page or breaking the rules, or likewise if you have any feedback on how to make this page a better space, please contact [facebook@cancer.org.uk].
Cancer Research UK has the right to change or update the house rules at any time. We'll clearly state the date that these rules were updated below.
[May 2012]
Special Note: People who use this page often want to post messages of support for loved ones who have been diagnosed with cancer. We need to make you aware of Data Protection requirements concerning privacy. If you wish to name individuals who have been diagnosed with a medical condition, you must get their explicit consent before you can do so. There is more information about this on the Information Commissioner’s website: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public.aspx