Because communication via social media constitutes a limited public forum, the City may hide, reject, or remove content deemed to violate this policy or any applicable law. Comments on City social media accounts containing any of the following forms of content are Restricted Comments and are subject to being hidden, rejected, or removed:
- Comments unrelated to the purpose and topical scope of the post to which the comment is responding.
- Comments expressly advocating direct violence or other illegal activity.
- Comments containing or linking to obscenity, which is defined as sexually explicit and/or pornographic content that is patently offensive, appeals to prurient interest, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
- Comments containing commercial messages, including advertisements, solicitations, and spam.
- Comments containing links to malware and/or malicious content that affects the normal functioning of a computer system, server, or browser.
- Duplicate comments posted repeatedly within a short period of time.
- Comments containing actual defamation against a specifically named person or organization. Actual defamation means either defamation as determined by a court or comments that are patently defamatory by easily discovered facts.
- Comments that contain images or other content that violate the intellectual property or copyright rights of someone else, if the owner of that property notifies the City that the property was posted in a comment on the City's social media account(s).
- Comments that are discriminatory on the basis of any legally protected category including race, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, physical or mental disability, or any other category protected by federal or state law.
