My favourite unofficial pipeline to the Prime Minister’s Office — and I write that with tongue firmly-in-cheek — reports that Facebook has been banned by someone — the reporter here does not say who — within senior federal Conservative ranks. As a result, if you are an “exempt staff” for Conservative ministers, you are no longer allowed to use Facebook. The reporter tries hard to put the best spin on this message:
“Blogs understandably represented a communications challenge amongst a team that prides itself on tight messaging. Facebook not only represents this same challenge, but also has the potential for being a rich back-channel for opposition researchers, among others.”
And as is typical in this reporter’s posts-that-pose-as-reportage, no sources are quoted and no reaction is sought out.
This ban follows a ban on Facebook use at work that applies to all Ontario civil servants and to civil servants in many federal government departments.
I expect that the Conservative ban will — sadly, I’m forced to say — shorten my Facebook friends list. Happily, Dimitri Soudas, the deputy press secretary to the Prime Minister (who, I would assume, would be on Harper’s “exempt staff” is still my Facebook Friend.) But others are not.
Take, for example, the case of Jeffrey Kroeker. Kroeker, is among the exempt staff of Secretary of State Helena Guergis, but most recently was on the staff of Sen. Marjory LeBreton, the leader of the government in the Senate. Kroeker was identified in a report of a special Senate committee as the individual who leaked some documents to CTV National News about wasteful spending by mostly Liberal senators. Kroeker wrote about this at his Facebook site but subsequently deleted his comments on the Senate issue and then de-activated his Facebook account. He has not indicated if he did this of his own accord or if he was so directed.