Social Media Policy

Purpose

This policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the City of Lake Elsinore of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter) as a means of conveying the City of Lake Elsinore ("City") information to its citizens.

The intended purpose behind establishing the City of Lake Elsinore's social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City to its citizens. The City of Lake Elsinore has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is "spoken" on behalf of the City-on-City social media sites.

For purposes of this policy, "social media" is understood to be content created by individuals using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies through and on the Internet. Examples of social media include Facebook, blogs, Instagram, YouTube, and X (Twitter). For purposes of this policy, "comments" include information, articles, pictures, videos, or any other form of communicative content posted on a City of Lake Elsinore social media site.

Ownership

All social media communications composed, sent, or received on City equipment are the property of the City. While the social media sites are administered by the City, the content on the sites is not entirely controlled by the City. The City does not endorse any links or advertisements on its social media sites placed by the site owners or their vendors or partners.

General Policy

  1. The establishment and use of any city department of social media sites are subject to approval by the city manager or their designees. The City of Lake Elsinore's City Manager’s Department shall administer all City of Lake Elsinore social media sites.
  2. City social media sites should make clear that the City of Lake Elsinore maintains them and that they follow the City's Social Media Policy.
  3. The City Manager or his/her designee is responsible for determining who is authorized to use social media on behalf of the City.
    1. The City Manager or his/her designee will determine the appropriate level of employee access, which includes identifying what social media accounts, or types of sites, each department or individual is approved to use, as well as define their respective capabilities: publish, edit, comment or view only.
  4. Authorized users shall be provided a copy of this Social Media Policy and are required to acknowledge their understanding and acceptance by signing and dating the last page of this document, and returning the original copy to the City Manager’s Office, and retaining a copy for their record.
  5. Wherever possible, City social media sites should link back to the official City of Lake Elsinore website for forms, documents, online services, and other information necessary to conduct business with the City of Lake Elsinore.
  6. The Public Information Officer will monitor content on City social media sites to ensure adherence to both the City's Social Media Policy and the interests and goals of the City of Lake Elsinore.
  7. The City reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that violates this Social Media Policy or any applicable law. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the Public Information Officer based on records retention, including the time, date, and identity of the poster, when available.
  8. These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
  9. The City will approach social media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise-wide.
  10. The City of Lake Elsinore's website at https://www.lake-elsinore.org will remain the City's primary and predominant internet presence.
  11. All City social media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
  12. City social media sites are subject to the California Public Records Act. Any content maintained in a social media format related to City business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be a public record subject to public disclosure. 
  13. Employees representing the City government via City social media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the City and per all City policies.
  14. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.
  15. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the City of Lake Elsinore may be removed.
  16. The City does not endorse any links or advertisements that may show up on any of the City’s Social Media pages.

Comment Policy

By posting or commenting on the City of Lake Elsinore's Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube page, or other City of Lake Elsinore social media, you agree to the terms of use of the City of Lake Elsinore's social media comment policy as provided herein.

  1. The City must abide by specific standards to serve all its constituents civil and unbiasedly as a public entity.
  2. The City of Lake Elsinore's Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) YouTube page, or the other City of Lake Elsinore social media is intended to be "family-friendly," all comments will be clean and respectful by following these simple rules. In addition to keeping it family-friendly, we require that you follow our posting guidelines here. Please note that we utilize Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube’s automatic content filtering feature. All City of Lake Elsinore social media content is subject to monitoring.
  3. The intended purpose behind establishing the City of Lake Elsinore's social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City to its citizens.
  4. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on City of Lake Elsinore social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the Public Information Officer or his/her designees:
    1. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments; Profane, obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language;
    2. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination based on race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
    3. Defamatory or personal attacks;
    4. Threats to any person or organization;
    5. Comments in support of, or opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
    6. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
    7. Conduct in violation of any federal, state, or local law;
    8. Encouragement of illegal activity;
    9. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
    10. Content that violates any party's legal ownership interest, such as a copyright;
    11. Harassment or content that constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
    12. Content that violates the right to privacy;
    13. Encouragement of violence;
    14. Repetitive content;
    15. Comments that may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, police responses to incidents, and/or the safety of police staff and officers;
    16. Posts or comments that contain any external links.
  5. A comment posted by a public member on any City of Lake Elsinore social media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only. Publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City of Lake Elsinore, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Lake Elsinore.
  6. The City of Lake Elsinore reserves the right to deny access to its social media sites to any individual who violates the City of Lake Elsinore's Social Media Policy at any time and without prior notice.
  7. Comments posted to this page will be monitored, and inappropriate content, as defined above, will be removed immediately and without prior notice. Please note that comments posted to any of the City’s social media pages are monitored, and the setting will automatically hide a comment if profanity is used within the post.
  8. If you need to contact the Lake Elsinore Police Department, please call their front desk at (951) 245-3300, or if it is an emergency, call 911 and ask for assistance. While comments posted on the City's social media pages are monitored, posting a comment is neither the recommended nor best way to contact the City or the Lake Elsinore Police Department.
  9. Staff shall not respond directly to hostile, aggressive, or rhetorical posts.
  10. Social media platforms have tools for moderating comments, including blocking users, banning users, and hiding or deleting individual posts. The First Amendment of the United States and the California Constitution may prevent some of these actions because public agency web pages are considered a forum for speech. Many governments social media managers find it helpful to look at social media moderation along the same lines as moderation of comments at a public meeting: while it is acceptable for the public to criticize and disagree with agency actions, if the speech becomes disruptive, agencies will enforce “rules of decorum.”
  11. To avoid First Amendment issues, staff shall review comments or posts suspected of violating the City’s Social Media Policy with the City Manager Department, and to determine if the post should be removed, if the user should be blocked, and/or if the involvement of legal counsel is warranted.
  12. When a City of Lake Elsinore employee responds to a comment in his/her capacity as a City of Lake Elsinore employee, the employee's name and title should be made available, and the employee shall not share personal information about himself or herself or other City employees.
  13. All comments posted to any City of Lake Elsinore Social Media sites are bound by the social media platforms Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Community Standards, located at on the social media terms and condition section, respectfully. The City of Lake Elsinore reserves the right to report any violation of any social media’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and/or Community Standards to social media platform with the intent of any of the social media platforms taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
  14. By posting or commenting on the City of Lake Elsinore social media platforms, you agree to our terms of use. You participate by your choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, username, and any information you provide.