Dear New Zealand Defence Force,

I understand that the official accounts of the NZDF and NZ Navy have banned/blocked a number of New Zealanders from commenting on NZDF and Navy social articles on Facebook and Twitter ('X.com'), over criticism of the Navy's scuttling of HMNZS Manawanui and poisoning of Samoa's fisheries.

1) Does the NZDF or Navy have policies or guidelines around what purpose officially run social media accounts serve? If so, please provide the text of said policies.
2) Does the NZDF or Navy have policies or guidelines around under what situations those offering criticism of, for example, Capt Gray's choice to poison the waters of Tafitoala, would be banned or blocked from engaging in public discourse around NZDF & Navy actions? If so, please provide the text of said policies.
3) How many accounts have been banned or blocked from NZDF and Army/Navy/Air Force social media accounts, tabulated by social media site and organization?

Yours faithfully,
Steve Morse

Dear Brigadier Motley,

To be clear, on reviewing the https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/nzdf/social-medi... document, I am not enlightened beyond the fact that the NZDF "reserve[s] the right to... ban users from our social media communities"- not specifying the exactly conditions under which it does so- as it clearly does, including, in several cases I'm aware of, banning citizens who were critical of the scuttling of the HMNZS Manawanui and the poisoning of Samoa's fisheries while observing common courtesy and not exhibiting "offensive, profane, defamatory, threatening language or which are otherwise inappropriate in a public forum".

As such, I am making a further request as to whether the NZDF retains any record of why and for what material/reasons it bans New Zealanders from commenting on NZDF actions on social media channels, whether in the form of a spreadsheet, or in the form of email communications to a group inbox or supervisor, or in whatever other way it may be retained. Should they exist, I am also requesting these records in electronic form (not as a summary).

On the other hand, if NZDF personnel simply arbitrarily ban those who politely criticize the likes of its environmental terrorism against Samoa without retaining any records of why it does so, please make that clear.

Yours sincerely,
Steven Morse