Tuesday night's vote of support, which followed a lengthy debate across the chamber, comes on the back of a spike in politically opportunistic content appearing as news on social media platforms.

A briefing paper provided to councillors said the coronavirus pandemic's impact on local media "has led to an upsurge in the use of social media and other websites generally, and specifically by councillors who can at times leverage large social media followings to further their political interests, through various 'community' or other forums".

"It is not always clear who is an administrator of these pages which can and have been used to whip up hatred and slurs directed to other councillors with comments to this effect often left to snowball while views critical to the administrator are deleted," the briefing paper read.

The motion on notice, tabled by Liberal councillor Ben Mitchell, will see the disclosure of "administrative interests of councillors in relation to social media pages and websites" in the form of a public 'Social Media and Websites Disclosures Register'.

"This council is accountable for what it says and what the individual councillors say, and it's accountable to the public. For too long, councillor have gotten away with this sort of thing," Cr Mitchell said.

"If councillors haven't anything to hide then they can declare on these interests. Just as we are required to declare our financial interests.

"This motion isn't aimed at any councillor. It applies to every councillor including myself.

"We are all accountable to the public."

However fellow Liberal councillor Mitchell Griffin did not agree with the new regulations, stating the motion was "illegal".

Cr Griffin cited the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, and said the Act prohibits the collection of "particular information" by council.

"I don't think this will solve the issue as such," he said.

"Every councillor who votes in favour of this motion is voting for a motion that is illegal. I support the fact that we need to be more transparent ... [But] we are really starting to delve into the personal lives of our councillors ... and starting to breach into this privacy and protection act."

Liberal councillor Sally Halliday also cited the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Action, and said she had a "huge issue with the invasion" of her personal privacy.

"I have a public role as a councillor and I'm happy for people to know I have a Facebook page I look after. But I'm not happy with others knowing what I do outside of this sphere in private," she said.

But general manager David Evans said council had consulted with legal representatives and the motion was "not unlawful".

Maitland's Labor councillors were in full support of the motion. "Councillors should be transparent in the pages they administer," Cr Ben Whiting said.

"Anyone can put whatever they want on their councillor Facebook page and because their name is on that page, they answer for it. All this is doing is saying that you should answer for the other pages you administer as well."

Mayor Loretta Baker thanked Cr Mitchell for his integrity and bravery.

"It's not an easy thing to do. It's been going down for years," she said.

Independent councillor Philip Penfold voted for the motion but raised concerns over the legality of it.

The new code will be placed on public exhibition on the council website.

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