Social media

Court of Audit criticizes government accounts

The Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) has criticized the government's social media activities. Party-political and personal activities are not always clearly separated, according to a report published on Friday.

One member of the government from each of the parties represented in parliament in 2022 was audited. Those affected were Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Vice-Chancellor and Culture Minister Werner Kogler (The Greens), Burgenland's Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ), Upper Austria's Deputy Governor Manfred Haimbuchner (FPÖ) and Vienna's Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS). The period under review covered January 2020 to June 2022.

The overall result: As employees of the cabinets or offices of government members co-maintained party-political social media accounts in four out of five cases, resources from the state and political parties were mixed up. "Demarcation issues arise that are associated with possible conflicts of interest," the ACA report states.

In four of the five offices audited - the Federal Chancellery, the Ministry of Culture, the Province of Burgenland and the City of Vienna - the accounts were also managed by employees of the cabinets or offices of the members of government, i.e. by employees of public corporations. This was therefore only not the case in Upper Austria.

In the province of Burgenland, for example, only the office of the provincial governor looked after its accounts. In the Federal Chancellery, the Ministry of Culture and the City of Vienna, the accounts were managed by employees of the cabinets or offices of the members of government as well as the respective party. The Deputy Mayor of the City of Vienna also managed two of his own accounts.

Problematic in terms of transparency
"When employees of public corporations also manage party-political accounts, the areas of government and party work become intertwined," the Court of Audit found. Such overlaps are problematic in terms of transparency and the Political Parties Act, "as personnel and/or material resources of the state are used and the political party does not reimburse these costs to the public corporation". This problem exists during the active exercise of office until the party leaves office, which is why clear regulations are required.

It is also important who appears as the media owner on the social media accounts of the selected members of government. For average social media users, however, this is only clearly visible on the Vice-Chancellor's account, according to the report. The Court of Audit also found that the Ministry of Culture and the province of Burgenland had not regulated the separation of government and party work in writing.