Erie County Council Social Media Policy

The purpose of this Social Media Policy (“Policy”) is to establish guidelines and practices for the use and management of Erie County Council’s social media outlets. Council social media sites are those operated and managed by the County Council Departments only. The Erie County Council’s use of social media is secondary to and for the purpose of enhancing our established print, signage and web communications with the public. The Erie County Council social media sites are not meant for comments that do not relate to the purpose or topic posted. User comments should directly relate to the information posted.

Erie County Council social media sites are subject to the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law. Any content maintained in a social media format that is related to Erie County Council business, including lists of subscribers and posted communication, is a public record, except to the extent that such content includes information that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to the Right to Know Law. Users have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality with respect to any content they post to Council social media sites. The Erie County Council shall have full rights and permission to publish and use in any manner all posted content including digital photographs and videos.

Posts to Erie County Council social media will be monitored and reviewed. Solely at the discretion of County Council or its designee, comments which are found to be inflammatory, offensive, derogatory, abusive, threatening, intimidating or intending harm to any individual or organization or posted to advertise a business or for commercial purposes are prohibited. All social media posts that violate the terms of this policy may be subject to removal. Content found to be in violation and removed from the social media site shall be retained off-line and stored by the County Council for no less than one year. The Council may refuse and prevent access to Council social media sites to any individual who violates the terms of this policy without notice to such individual. The Erie County Council is not liable for inappropriate or offensive comments, any comments that are prohibited as noted above, and the improp

Public Comment Policy

To the extent public comments are enabled on an Erie County Council government social media site, all members of the public will be allowed to comment, and public comments shall not thereafter be blocked, filtered, deleted, or otherwise censored, except as provided below or allowed by law. Any comments on the County's social media sites are the opinion of the poster only and the presence of such comments does not imply that the County endorses or agrees with the comments.

Social media is not an official channel for contacting the County of Erie agencies, employees and officials. While the County may at times respond to inquiries or comments on social media, staffing for that purpose is not 24/7. The County encourages users to utilize the official county website at www.eriecountypa.gov or www.eriecountycouncilpa.gov to learn how to officially contact government offices.

Communications posted on the county's social media pages will not be construed as satisfying requirements for legal notice or service, shall not be considered official public comment and shall not be construed as an official request for records pursuant to the Right-to-Know Law.

Erie County Council may post links to other organizations on its social media pages. A link does not constitute an endorsement of content, viewpoint, policies, products or services that may exist on that site. Once a user clicks a link to another website not maintained by the County, the user is subject to the terms and conditions of that website.

The following forms of content shall not be allowed on any Erie County Council social media website, profile or application and article and comments associated therein.

Profane, obscene, and/or vulgar language or content
Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, color, disability of the person, religious creed, ancestry, age, familial status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, criminal history or source of income
Sexual content or links to sexual content, including a poster with a profile picture containing nudity or sexually explicit content
Threats of physical or bodily harm
Solicitation of commerce
Solicitation for donations. This shall not apply to any official Erie County Council posting providing the public with information related to fundraisers, activities and projects that are supported or sponsored by the County.
Conduct constituting or encouraging illegal activity
Information that may compromise the safety, security or proceedings of the public, public systems or any criminal or civil investigations
Name-calling and/or personal attacks
Defamatory statements
Misinformation or misleading posts
Spam, such as the same content being posted repeatedly
Content that violates the legal ownership interest of a party, trademark or copyright laws
Content containing personally private information, including but not limited to identifiable medical information
Other content that the Erie County Council office deems inappropriate

Any content removed based upon these guidelines must be retained by the County Erie County Council, or a designee, or the appropriate department/agency including the time, date and identity of the poster when available, pursuant to Pennsylvania state law. Unless otherwise addressed in a specific social media standards document or County retention schedules, the County Erie County Council, or a designee, or the appropriate department/agency shall preserve records required to be maintained for a period of no Approved by Erie County Council Resolution 15 of 2025 (07/15/25) less than one year on a County server in a format that preserves the integrity of the original record and is easily accessible.

The County reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this social media policy or any applicable law. Erie County Council is prohibited from banning or blocking any user or subscriber to any official Erie County Council social media account unless their participation is creating an illegal or unmanageable situation. In such cases, a block must be approved by the County Erie County Council or a designee.

Comments, media or other information posted to or displayed on the County's social media sites, accounts, and content are subject to monitoring and review at all times. Users should have no expectation to privacy with respect to their postings. Monitoring does not occur constantly due to staff resources; therefore, Erie County Council is not liable for inappropriate or offensive comments that may be posted.