6 June 2024
Reference 2324-2487
Paul White
[FYI request #26703 email]
Tēnā koe Paul
Thank you for writing to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on 9 May 2024, to request the
following, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
•
Information on the use of Cobwebs that involved two Facebook Groups, as fol ows;
1. ACC Exposed
2. ACC Claimants Help and Support.
•
I want to know for each year from 2019 onwards, how many times the Cobwebs service (flagged,
identified, investigated) either a Post if Comment within each group.
•
Please also advise for each year 2019 onwards, the amount if times action was taken ie removed the
Post or Comment.
I am refusing your request in ful under section 18(e) of the OIA, as the information you have requested does
not exist. MBIE’s sole use of the Cobwebs tools is for the detection and prevention of maritime mass arrivals.
MBIE only has access to Cobwebs tools that allow for collection of information from publicly available online
sources and anonymous browsing of publicly available online sources for the purpose of prevention of a
maritime mass arrival.
Al of MBIE’s activities, including the use of the Cobwebs tools, must be conducted in line with the New
Zealand law. This includes being subject to the Privacy Act and the Privacy Commissioner, the Auditor-General,
the Ombudsman under the Official Information Act 1982, and the Ombudsmen Act 1975.
MBIE also carries out regular audits of Cobwebs use, and these confirm that Cobwebs has not been used for
any other purpose other than that for which it has been approved, and that al cases of use have met the
required threshold and scope.
Thank you again for writing to MBIE. Under section 28 of the OIA, you have the right to refer our response to
an Ombudsman for review. You can find more about how to do this by cal ing 0800 802 602, or by emailing
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Jacqui Ellis
General Manager, Data, Insights and Intelligence
Digital, Data and Insights