Social Media Policy

Content Guidelines

1. As a public entity, the City must abide by certain standards to serve all of its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.

2. The following statement shall be posted on the City social media sites’ primary page or by a hyperlink directing a user to the same wherever possible:

   “The intended purpose of this page is to serve as a mechanism for communication between the City of Davis and members of the public. However, this page is not the primary method of communication with the City, and any notices or requests for City services must be made via official communication methods identified on the City’s website, or by traditional methods of notification recognized by the City, and no comments or posts on this page will be construed as providing notice to the City of any claim, deficiency, dangerous condition, request, or otherwise.

   Any comments or other content posted or submitted to this page for posting, as well as personal identifying information for the page’s users and visitors, and its list of fans, may be public records subject to disclosure pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Cal. Gov. Code § 6250 et seq.). Public disclosure requests must be directed to the City Clerk’s office.”

   In addition to the above statement, the City social media sites’ primary page shall also contain contact information for the City and a hyperlink to the City website providing addresses, names, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses of applicable department listings or City staff and methods of making official requests for maintenance or services and notice of the condition of City property or other similar requests.

3. The content of City social media sites shall only pertain to City-related, City-sponsored, or City-endorsed programs, services, and events. Content includes, but is not limited to, information, photographs, videos, and hyperlinks.

4. The City shall have full permission or rights to any content posted by the City on City social media sites, including photographs and videos.

Comment Guidelines 

1. The City disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials that the City deems inappropriate for posting which cannot be removed in an expeditious or otherwise timely manner. The City reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this policy or any applicable law. Any articles, messages, posts, comments, images, video or other content containing any of the following shall not be allowed and may be removed as soon as possible:

   • Comments not topically related to the particular article or post being commented on;
   • Comments in support of or opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures;
   • Profane language or content;
   • Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation;
   • Sexual content or links to sexual content;
   • Solicitations of commerce;
   • Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
   • Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or
   • Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party.
      

2. Whenever possible, users and visitors to City social media sites shall be notified by the following message appearing on the City social media site or by a hyperlink directing a user to the same regarding comments posted by the public:

   “A comment posted by a member of the public on this page is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City.”

3. All comments posted to any City Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, located at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php, and the City reserves the right to report any violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to Facebook with the intent of Facebook taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

If you have questions or comments regarding this policy, email cmoweb@cityofdavis.org