OFFICIAL

Dear James,

Acknowledgement

I refer to your correspondence of 31 October 2023, seeking access to
documents held by the Department of Defence (Defence), under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This email is to advise you that your
request has been received and allocated for Case Management.

The scope of the request is:

“Please provide all manuals, guides, presentations, memos, policies, or
guidelines (or similar) relating to:
1. taking action against users of Facebook or Instagram, or their accounts
or posts (for example, reporting, banning, blocking, or taking down such
users, accounts or posts) 2. contacting or corresponding with Meta,
 Facebook or Instagram - from 1 January 2020 to the date of the response
to this application.”

Disclaimer

Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents.

Timeframe

The statutory timeframe to provide you with a decision on your request
ends on 30 November 2023. This period may be extended if we need to
consult with third parties, or for other reasons. We will advise you if
this happens.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published on Defence’s
disclosure log, located on our website.

Contact Details

We will contact you via the email addresses you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.

Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me via email: [1][email address].

Kind regards,

Ryan

Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

Tel: 02 5108 8851

[2]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...

OFFICIAL

Dear James,

I am writing in relation to your request for documents under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) for the following:

“Please provide all manuals, guides, presentations, memos, policies, or
guidelines (or similar) relating to:
1. taking action against users of Facebook or Instagram, or their accounts
or posts (for example, reporting, banning, blocking, or taking down such
users, accounts or posts) 2. contacting or corresponding with Meta,
 Facebook or Instagram - from 1 January 2020 to the date of the response
to this application.”

The current statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your
Defence FOI request is 30 November 2023.

Due to unexpected staff absences our office is seeking your agreement to
a 14-day extension of the statutory deadline under section 15AA
[extension with agreement] of the FOI Act. This is required so that we may
sufficiently consider all information relevant to the scope of your
request which includes consulting with multiple line areas within the
Department, to ensure a robust decision on access is made. We will
endeavour to process your request as soon as we can.

Should you agree, the statutory deadline for you to receive a response to
your request will expire on 14 December 2023.

It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by 5:00pm 28 November 2023.

If you have any questions regarding this matter please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Kind regards,

Ryan

Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

Tel: 02 5108 8851

[1]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...

OFFICIAL

Good afternoon James

Thank you for previously agreeing to a 14-day extension of time in
relation to your FOI request 399/23/24.

Defence is continuing to process your request, however we require
additional time to be able to ensure a robust decision is made.

Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI
Act to further extend the processing period for 7-days.  Should you agree,
the statutory deadline for you to receive a response will be 21 December
2023. This will ensure sufficient time to finalise a decision on access. 

If possible, we will endeavour to notify you of the decision prior to this
extended date.

It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by 12:00pm Thursday 14 December 2023.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[1]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...

OFFICIAL

Dear James Smith

Please find attached the Decision and documents relating to Defence FOI
399/23/24.

FOI Disclosure Log

In accordance with the requirements of section 11C of the FOI Act, Defence
is required to publish details of information released under the FOI Act.
Defence publishes identified documents relating to finalised requests
within ten working days of receipt by the applicant. Defence will also
publish the statement of reasons with privacy deletions. 

Review Rights

If you disagree with the decision made by the Department of Defence or the
Minister under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), you can
ask for the decision to be reviewed. You may want to seek review if you
sought certain documents and were not given full access, if your
application to have your personal information amended was not accepted or
your comments in response to formal consultation were not accepted.

You must apply in writing and should include a copy of the notice of the
decision provided and the points to which you are objecting and why.  You
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner, within 60 days of
receiving your decision.

Further information about the external review process or how to make a
complaint to the Information Commissioner is available:

Online: [1]www.oaic.gov.au

Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2000

Email: [2][email address]

Regards

Erin
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[3]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...