City of Haltom City Social Media Terms and Conditions  

Purpose

This document outlines the expectations, terms, and conditions for the public’s use of any City-owned social media accounts. These accounts are primarily intended to be used to share general information about the City and to promote City events, programs, and services.

Goals of City-owned social media accounts:

• Provide accurate information promptly
• Facilitate community engagement and outreach
• Support City marketing and promotional campaigns
• Assist in employment and volunteer recruitment efforts

Disclosures

Please note that any Comments, replies to Comments, and any direct or private messages sent to the City may be considered public records and are subject to laws governing open records requests. However, the City does not accept requests for public information made via social media. To submit a request for public information, please visit www.haltomcitytx.com/openrecords.

Haltom City’s social media accounts are not monitored 24/7 and should not be utilized by those seeking emergency services. Individuals in need of immediate emergency assistance should call 9-1-1.

The City does not guarantee a response to all comments or messages sent via social media. Additionally, the City may update these terms and conditions without notice. It is each User’s responsibility to check periodically for changes.

Definitions

Social media – Refers to websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. These include platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Comments – Includes any content (text, images, audio, links, or video) posted to a City-owned social media account.

User – Refers to a member of the public who views or interacts with a City-owned social media account.

Expectations

Haltom City believes that honest, civil, and constructive communication creates the best atmosphere for citizen engagement. To that end, the City has chosen to allow User Comments on its social media accounts. User Comments represent the opinions of the User only. The presence of User Comments on a City social media account does not constitute or indicate City support or endorsement for the Comments. Users are encouraged to refrain from using profane or harassing language, as children and other impressionable Users may be viewing the platforms.

Please Avoid:

• Profanity, personal attacks, and bullying
• Dissemination of inaccurate information
• Content that is harmful, harassing, vulgar, invasive of others' privacy, discriminatory, or hateful
  • This includes content that targets individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected group
• Impersonation of any person or entity
• Forging headers or manipulating identifiers to conceal the origin of any content transmitted through the City’s social media platforms
• Advertising, commercial endorsements, or spam
• Political or electoral campaign messaging
• Confidential information

In accordance with these terms and conditions, the City may remove inappropriate content as well as prevent the User from making future posts. The City may also report any behavior that violates the hosting platform’s terms and conditions directly to the hosting platform. Any threats of violence will be taken seriously and will be reported to law enforcement.

Content Moderation

Limited Public Forum

The City manages its social media accounts as limited public forums in accordance with federal case law related to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The public is encouraged to view, comment on, and interact with these accounts.

The City will not remove posts made by members of the public based on the User’s viewpoint. However, the City may hide or remove Comments that fall within the Prohibited Content categories that do not qualify as protected speech under the First Amendment.

Prohibited Content

1. Comments that fall within the following categories are prohibited and subject to removal: 
2. Comments that directly advocate violence or illegal activity.
3. Comments that contain direct criminal threats as defined by local, state, or federal law.
4. Comments that contain obscenity, defined as sexually explicit and/or pornographic content that is demonstrably offensive, appeals to prurient interests, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
5. Comments that directly promote or advocate for the organization to engage in illegal discrimination based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other legally protected class or if such Comments violate local, state, or federal law.
6. Comments containing links to malware or malicious content that affect the normal functioning of a computer system, server, app, or browser.
7. Duplicate Comments posted repeatedly within a short period.
8. Comments that contain actual defamation against a person, whether determined by a court or based on easily discovered facts that are defamatory. When a public figure is the target, the poster must act with actual malice for the Comment to constitute defamation.
9. Comments containing images or other content that violate someone else's intellectual property or copyright rights will be removed if the property owner notifies the City that their property was included in a Comment on the City’s social media account(s).

Retention

In the event that a Comment containing any Prohibited Content is posted to a City- owned social media platform and the City hides or removes it, a copy or electronic record of that Comment may be retained pursuant to the City’s records retention policy, along with a brief description of the reason why the specific Comment or content was hidden or removed.

Right of Appeal

If the City hides or removes a User’s Comment under these terms and conditions, the User has the right to appeal that decision by sending an email to marketing@haltomcitytx.com within five business days of removal.

Upon receipt of the User’s appeal, the City’s attorney will determine whether the Comment was properly removed. If the appeal is successful, the Comment may, if possible, be restored for public view, or the User may be permitted to repost the Comment.

Upon determination that the Comment was properly removed, the User will be notified that the appeal was denied.

Blocking or Banning a User

If the City determines that a User has violated these terms and conditions three or more times within a 12-month rolling period, the City may block or ban the offending User from the City-owned social media account where the violations occurred. Reasonable attempts will be made to notify the User of the block or ban and to describe the violation.

A User has the right to appeal a decision to block or ban the User in the same manner and subject to the same timeframes and processes described above for appeals related to the removal of a User’s Comment. If the appeal is successful, the City will reverse the block or ban. If the appeal is not successful, the City’s decision will stand.