Popular social media creative Jordan Rivers employed in Labour Party leader’s office; private post falls foul of Speaker Gerry Brownlee, citing parliament rules
A popular social media creative and former Shortland St actor who works in the Labour Party leader’s office has fallen foul of the Speaker after a private post took aim at Finance Minister Nicola Willis and used edited official footage from Parliament.
Jordan Rivers, also known as Jordan Lafoa’i, has been working in a part-time capacity in the Labour leader’s office since January as a social media adviser to the party’s Māori caucus. He is employed by the Parliamentary Service.
Rivers has a popular social media presence with almost 200,000 followers on TikTok, 72,000 followers on Instagram and 38,000 followers on Facebook.
Across those channels, he variously describes himself as an actor, writer, photographer, vlogger, director and YouTuber.
He regularly posts, reposts or is tagged as a collaborator on anti-Government content.
None of his platforms or his own website declare that he works for Labour, and neither does he have to.
But he has found himself in the Speaker’s spotlight after concerns about one of his private posts that featured an edited video of Willis speaking in the House.
“Jordan removed one piece of social media content that was posted on his personal social media account, outside of work hours and not in an official capacity, using footage in the public domain,” a Labour Party spokesman said.
“The post was an edited clip of parliamentary footage that was said to potentially breach parliamentary rules.”
Rivers did not respond to questions from the Herald.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee confirmed the matter had been referred to him. “I did ask them to take it down, and they did comply.”
Brownlee had a broader message for anyone – whether they were an MP, a parliamentary worker or a member of the public – that official parliamentary footage should not be inappropriately edited and presented.
“Standing orders make it very clear that no one can use or take footage from a parliamentary feed and then manipulate it to give a message contrary to that of the person who is speaking, or in support of a different proposition that they might like to advance.
“People who engage in that sort of activity will be given the opportunity to take it down, but if they persist and regularly do it, then they’ll be going to the Privileges Committee.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Member of Parliament or not. You will be before the Privileges Committee, and that committee will decide exactly how the offence should be dealt with.”
Brownlee said he had been noticing more issues like this arising.
“I would hope that political parties or people outside political parties who are supporting a particular political party would recognise that it’s a zero-sum game.
“You start to cast the whole of the electoral process into the world of disinformation, fake information, whatever you want to call it. It just doesn’t do anybody any good whatsoever.”
Parliament’s standing orders state that excerpts of official coverage “must not be used for commercial sponsorship or commercial advertising, or in a way that is misleading”.
The edited video of Willis used short, sharp clips from her speech.
The Labour Party believes the National Party has been doing the same thing.
“I note that the National Party has not removed a heavily edited and misleading clip of a Labour member’s speech not dissimilar to the post of Jordan’s that prompted the Speaker’s office’s concern,” the Labour Party spokesman said.
That post comes under the headline “Labour can’t stop talking about this one thing ... ” and features a general debate speech, edited to show Labour MP and revenue spokeswoman Deborah Russell using the words “capital gains tax” 18 times.
Brownlee said he had not received a complaint about it, but if he did and it was found to breach rules, he would “certainly take action”.
“It’s just not appropriate. I can understand the temptation to do that, but misrepresenting [someone] is not something that’s reasonable.”
A Labour Party role
The Labour Party confirmed Rivers had been working part-time since January.
“Jordan works in the Labour leader’s office as a part-time social media adviser to the Labour Māori caucus,” a party spokesman said.
“All staff are regularly reminded of their responsibility to act with integrity and to never use parliamentary resources or devices to create content for personal use.
“Jordan posts on his own social media in his own time, using only information already available in the public domain.”
Rivers has been seen regularly around Parliament, according to sources. The Labour Party said he had never filmed MPs on their “bridge runs”.
The spokesman said the party had never had to speak to Rivers about him using parliamentary resources or devices to post personal social media posts.
“It has never been necessary. Jordan is extremely careful with his time, and I have never had reason to be concerned.”
The spokesman added: “I am confident in saying that nearly all staff members with social media pages do not declare that they work for a political party. It seems a bit arbitrary to single out Jordan for this.”
He said Rivers did not perform any other social media tasks for the party, other than for the Māori caucus.
He was present at the Labour Party conference in Auckland yesterday, pictured with official accreditation and working with a camera and a phone.
Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said he could not comment on individual employees or matters related to them.
“Our code of conduct contains guidance for social media use, including not bringing Parliamentary Service into disrepute. Employees are not restricted in their personal social media use in their personal time.”
Rivers’ website quotes his IMDB film biography that describes him as an award-winning actor and filmmaker who has worked with directors including Sir Peter Jackson, Taika Waititi and Jonathan King.
“Jordan is best known for his role as [Barnie Livingstone] on TV drama Shortland Street. Prior to that, his Ferdinand of A Tempest Off Somes Island received critical acclaim across two sold-out seasons. Also performing in Oscar Award winner Sir Richard Taylor’s Project Born and Sharman Macdonald’s critically acclaimed After Juliet."
Social media rules
The case raises interesting questions about the balance of freedom of speech and a person’s responsibilities as an employee – especially in a setting such as Parliament.
Speaking generally, Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham said if a social media influencer was posting in a personal capacity, the main obligation would be to comply with the platform’s terms of service and the general law (defamation, privacy, contempt, the Fair Trading Act and potentially the Advertising Standards Authority’s code).
Some of those platforms, he said, might require disclosure of things like sponsorships. Advertising Standards Authority guidance was that affiliations should be disclosed.
“If the content is political, it can stray into ‘election advertising’, which encourages people to vote for a particular person or party and therefore [can] be captured by the Electoral Act, and is regulated if the person receives payment for posting. Such content needs to contain a promoter statement.
“In terms of using content from Parliament, this used to be banned, but is now permitted provided it doesn’t amount to a contempt of the House (being something that makes it harder for the House or its members to perform their functions). That can include providing misleading accounts of parliamentary proceedings.”
Graham said it was “pretty easy” to blur personal/professional activities on social media and if in doubt, following rules such as the Advertising Standards Authority’s guidance was “prudent”.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.