📱 Social Media
Government Social Media Comment Policy and Moderation Playbook: Viewpoint Neutral Removal Rules, Hide vs Delete vs Block, Public Records Archiving, and Official Account Boundaries for a City or County
Write the comment policy and moderation playbook a city or county communications team needs before it removes a single comment: a limited forum statement, content neutral removal categories flagged for legal review, a decision table for real comment examples, hide, delete, and block guidance per platform, a public records archiving procedure, and boundaries for officials who post about official business.
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Prompt
Act as a municipal communications manager who runs city and county social media accounts and drafts comment policies with the city attorney's office. You moderate by published, content neutral categories, never by whether a comment is critical of the government. Inputs: - The agency, its accounts, and platforms (Facebook Page, Instagram, X, YouTube, Nextdoor agency account): [AgencyAccounts] - The state public records rules and retention schedule item for social media, as the clerk or counsel gave them: [RecordsRules] - Who has admin access, and whether any elected officials run personal pages where they discuss official business: [AccountHolders] - The comment problems staff are seeing, with redacted examples: [CommentExamples] - Tools available (platform keyword filters, an archiving service, a ticketing system): [Tools] - Current policy text, if any: [CurrentPolicy] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. A forum statement for the comment policy: what the accounts are for, that comments are a limited forum on the topic of each post, and that the policy is posted on or linked from every account profile. 2. A short list of content neutral removal categories that any trained staff member would apply the same way: spam and commercial ads, obscenity, true threats, posting private personal information, promotion of unlawful activity, and clearly off topic comments if the forum is limited. Mark each category LEGAL REVIEW. 3. A moderation decision table for each item in CommentExamples: the category it falls under or KEEP, the action, and whether to escalate. Criticism of officials, policies, or staff, even harsh or profane, defaults to KEEP. 4. Hide vs delete vs block guidance for each platform in AgencyAccounts, why blocking users on official accounts carries the most risk, and a rule to archive before any removal. 5. A public records procedure using RecordsRules and Tools: capture each removal with date, platform, post, comment text, category, and staff member, keep it for the retention period, and answer records requests for removed comments. 6. An official account boundaries section using AccountHolders: official accounts are run only by authorized staff, and officials who post about official duties on personal pages should get counsel's guidance, noting that the Supreme Court addressed when that becomes state action in Lindke v. Freed (2024). Constraints: - Every rule must be viewpoint neutral. Do not cite other cases or statutes unless they appear in RecordsRules or CurrentPolicy. - This is a draft for counsel review, not legal advice. No em dashes.
Instructions
Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
AgencyAccounts: City of Riverbend (sample city), Facebook Page and Instagram for city news, YouTube for council meeting video, Nextdoor agency account RecordsRules: the city clerk says the state schedule requires keeping social media posts and comments for 2 years AccountHolders: three communications staff are admins; the mayor posts about council votes on her personal Facebook profile CommentExamples: (a) The council is corrupt and the mayor should resign; (b) a link selling discount sunglasses; (c) a comment posting a code inspector's home address; (d) I will be waiting for the parks director after the meeting and he better watch himself; (e) a long comment about a national election on a post about leaf pickup; (f) profanity aimed at the city on a post about the water rate increase Tools: Meta keyword blocking, an archiving service connected to all accounts, a ticketing system CurrentPolicy: none Format: policy, decision table, platform actions, records steps, officials note
Example Output
Comment policy (draft for counsel review) The City of Riverbend uses these accounts to share city news, services, and meetings. Comments are welcome and are a limited forum on the topic of each post. The city does not remove comments because of the opinion they express. Staff may remove comments that are: 1) spam or commercial advertising; 2) obscene; 3) true threats of violence; 4) private personal information such as home addresses or phone numbers; 5) promotion of unlawful activity; 6) clearly unrelated to the topic of the post. Each category: LEGAL REVIEW. Removed comments are kept as public records. This policy is linked in the profile of every city account. Decision table | Ex | Category | Action | Escalate | | a | KEEP, criticism of officials | Leave up | No | | b | Spam, commercial | Archive, then delete | No | | c | Private personal information | Archive, then delete; tell the inspector | Supervisor | | d | Possible true threat | Archive, then hide or delete; preserve full record | Police and counsel the same day | | e | Off topic | Archive, then remove only if category 6 is approved and used every time | Counsel if unsure | | f | KEEP, criticism with profanity | Leave up | No | Platform actions - Facebook Page: hiding keeps the comment visible to the commenter and their friends, so treat it as a removal and archive first. Use keyword blocking only for spam terms, never for criticism. - Instagram: same rule for hide and delete; avoid Restrict on residents. - YouTube: hold comments for review if staff cannot watch live; apply the same categories when approving. - Nextdoor: apply the same categories to replies on agency posts. - Blocking or banning stops a resident from taking part in the forum at all, so it is the riskiest action. Do not block without counsel approval and a documented pattern under a policy category. Records procedure 1. Before any removal, confirm the archiving service captured the comment. 2. Open a ticket with date, platform, post link, comment text, category, and staff name. 3. Keep posts, comments, and removal tickets for 2 years, per the clerk. 4. For a records request about removed comments, export from the archive and the ticket log; do not reconstruct from memory. Officials note Only the three authorized staff run city accounts. The mayor's personal profile posts about council votes. Ask counsel to review it, since the Supreme Court addressed when an official's personal page can count as state action in Lindke v. Freed (2024). Until then, staff should not moderate or post on her personal profile.