Civil servants in Kazakhstan have been reminded of the rules for maintaining personal social media pages. Officials were urged not to display luxury items or expensive vacations to avoid raising unnecessary questions among citizens, reports infohub.kz.
According to the akimat of the East Kazakhstan Region, official pages of government bodies and officials must be used exclusively for posting official information. Publications on civil servants' personal pages must also not contradict legal requirements. At the same time, a 'personal page' label does not exempt an official from the obligation to comply with established norms.
Specific requirements apply to photos, videos, and statuses. Officials are prohibited from: discrediting the civil service or a government body; creating a negative image of the profession; contradicting anti-corruption legislation; indicating a possible conflict of interest; making offensive, obscene, provocative, or degrading statements; demonstrating behavior incompatible with the status of a civil servant; disclosing non-public information.
"Particular attention should be paid to statuses, Stories, photos, and videos, since even a short-term publication can be saved, shared by other users, and become a subject of public discussion," the akimat of the East Kazakhstan Region warned.
In addition, officials must consider that displaying luxury items without a legal source of acquisition may raise questions among Kazakhstanis and negatively affect their reputation.
It is unacceptable to use social media to advertise or promote business, services, or goods. Publications that could be perceived as using one's official position, rank, state symbols, resources, or authority for personal interests should also be excluded.
"One should refrain from public conflicts with citizens, colleagues, and representatives of government bodies, insults, threats, derogatory comments, and participation in online discussions," the department added.
Furthermore, civil servants must be aware that their public behavior may be associated with the government body they represent.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that Astana is investigating the theft of a collection of expensive watches, presumably belonging to former Almaty akim Bauyrzhan Baibek.