Contra Costa County’s Social Media Comment Policy
Social media is an important tool that can be used as a channel for disseminating time-sensitive information and as a communications tool which increases the ability of the County to broadcast its messages to the widest possible audience and include new audiences that don’t rely on traditional media channels. Social media can help us build our community, improve knowledge, solve problems, and provide a better understanding of how our work impacts the quality of life for residents. This policy governs all sites and websites of Contra Costa County. Public comments expressed on our social media channels do not reflect the opinions of the County, nor do we approve the content of any public postings or commentary on our social media channels. You, as the poster, are responsible for the content of your messages. Our social media channels are limited to discussion of matters related to the County and its mission. We welcome all comments, questions, and concerns about these topics that foster discussion and communication.
• To further this goal, the County reserves the right to delete, hide comments, without notice, that contain:
• Electioneering for or against candidates or issues, unless such promotion or opposition is inherently related to discussion of an item posted by the County
• Information affiliated with political campaigns
• Confidential information
• Content that is unrelated to the post or work done by the County
• Threats against any person or organization Contra Costa County
• Highly repetitive posts that amount to harassment
• Obscenity, profanity, and vulgar language
• Promotion of discrimination
• Indication or encouragement of illegal activity
• Advocacy of violence
• Spam or links to unrelated sites
• Promotions of services, products or political candidates or organizations
• Infringement of copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property
• Information that may compromise the safety, security, or proceedings of public systems or any criminal or civil investigations
• Personal or sensitive information (social security numbers, credit card numbers, medical information, account numbers, banking information, phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, and similar materials). Continued or egregious postings of this sort may prompt the County to further restrict your commenting on official County social media platforms. The County’s use of external social media is provided as a public service. By commenting, you are subject to the Terms of Service of the host site. Posting comments to this site will grant the County and anyone reading this site permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display, or perform the commenter’s work. The comments posted on this site do not reflect the views of Contra Costa County or its elected officials and employees. Reference in any comment to a viewpoint, product, service, entity, or organization is solely attributable to the individual commenter. Comments may not be reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying County endorsement or approval of any viewpoint, product, service, entity, or organization. Inappropriate comments may remain posted for a significant amount of time prior to being noticed and deleted by an administrator; however, this should not be construed as an approval of the comment or an exception to the comment policy. Comments made through the County’s online locations will in no way constitute a legal or official notice or comment to the County or any County official or employee for any purpose. Additionally, emails or messages sent via this site may not be viewed or responded to. Communications with County elected officials, officers and employees should be made through correspondence to their physical addresses or County email addresses. This policy is subject to amendment or modification at any time to ensure that use of this site is consistent with its purpose as a limited forum.
