PURPOSE 

The purpose of this policy is to establish general standards and responsibilities for the acceptable use of social media accounts established and maintained by the Ark-Tex Council of Governments (ATCOG) to conduct official business.  The evolving landscape of the internet and its central role in the modern communications landscape requires the selection and management of social media accounts to be both strategic and well-controlled. Also, ATCOG’s interest in determining what information is provided to the public and by which means requires a set of clear, well-established procedures for the effective use of social media accounts.  

DEFINITIONS

ATCOG defines “social media” as web-based platforms or services that allow a person to create a profile and interact with other individuals.  Interactions may take the form of chatting, instant messaging, or posting text, multimedia content, or other files.  Examples of social media platforms and services include, but are not limited to, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other online forums.  These social media platforms are hosted by third parties, and the use of those platforms is governed by the social media providers’ own policies, such as their respective privacy policies and terms of service, and not by ATCOG.

PROHIBITED SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

No ATCOG employee, contractor, consultant, paid or unpaid interns, or other users of government networks will install or operate any social media accounts using any “covered applications” prohibited by Texas Government Code Chapter 620 on ATCOG owned or ATCOG-leased devices, except as permitted by law.

A covered application is a social media application or service specified by proclamation of the Governor under Texas Government Code Section 620.005.

PRIVACY

Only public information is permitted to be posted on social media accounts maintained by ATCOG. If communication that takes place on ATCOG social media platforms involves or requires private information, communication will be redirected through other appropriate channels.

Postings from the public on ATCOG social media platforms become public record, and users shall have no expectation of privacy.  As such, users are strongly encouraged to avoid giving out any personal information in such public forums.  All content, comments and replies posted are subject to the Texas Public Information Act and may be subject to public information requests.

ATCOG is not responsible for content posted by others to any social media platforms maintained by ATCOG.  Social media platform users that enter their own personal information do so at their own risk; ATCOG is not responsible for the voluntary public display of such private information.  ATCOG may remove postings to its social media platforms that contain personally identifiable information, but neither ATCOG, nor its licensors or contractors, are responsible for any breach of privacy or damages caused by delays in such removal.

RECORDS RETENTION

Information posted or shared on a social media page maintained by ATCOG qualifies as a business record.  Retention requirements apply regardless of the form of the record (digital text, photos, audio, or video, for example).  Accordingly, such information will be retained or destroyed in accordance with ATCOG’s records retention schedule and any applicable laws or rules.

SECURITY 

ATCOG information technology security policies shall apply when applicable to all ATCOG social media accounts.

TERMS OF SERVICE

ATCOG’s social media platforms are third-party platforms with terms of service and policies that are not governed by ATCOG.  These third-party platforms are not official ATCOG websites and the third-party’s website terms of service and policies apply.  ATCOG does not have ownership or control of any such social media platforms, and is therefore not responsible for any user or third-party content or submissions contained on such platforms, nor is ATCOG responsible for any user data or location information that may be collected by such third parties.

Visitors and users of social media services are bound by the terms of service and user agreements for the platform and are encouraged to familiarize themselves with such terms of use.

CONTENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

All published ATCOG social media content is subject to monitoring.  This content may take the form of digital text, photography images, or videos.  Any posts, comments, information, other communications, or material of any type or nature that others submit to ATCOG’s social media platforms is done solely at their own risk and without any expectation of privacy.

ATCOG will not post or share on its social media pages any information that is confidential or prohibited under any law or rule.  Due to legal constraints, ATCOG will not address questions or comments relating to matters or issues in pending or anticipated litigation or alternative dispute resolution.

Members of the public should not post or share information that is personal, confidential, sensitive, obscene, threatening, harassing, or discriminatory, or would otherwise compromise public safety or incite violence or illegal activities.

In order to preserve a respectful exchange of information on its social media, ATCOG reserves the right to reject or remove any posts deviating from organization-specific topics, such as those related to the organization’s services, and/or those which deviate significantly from a particular conversational thread.  While ATCOG cannot guarantee the privacy and safety of these platforms, ATCOG shall maintain exclusive control of its social media accounts and will regularly monitor its pages.

Accordingly, user-generated posts will be rejected or removed if possible when the content of a post:

• is off-subject or out of context;
• contains obscenity or material that appeals to the prurient interest;
• contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information;
• contains offensive terms that target protected classes;
• is threatening, harassing, or discriminatory;
• incites or promotes violence or illegal activities;
• contains information that reasonably could compromise public safety;
• advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, or any entity or individual;
• promotes, endorses, or denigrates political campaigns or candidates; or
• are of a repetitive or “spamming” nature (the same content posted multiple times).

In the above cases, ATCOG will normally reject or remove the content without notifying the poster.  Anonymous comments are considered spam and may be removed.

The views expressed in user-posted comments, replies, shares, likes, followers, favorites, and/or links reflect those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement or agreement by ATCOG, and do not necessarily reflect the official views and/or policies of ATCOG.  All content, comments, replies, and/or shares, posted to any official ATCOG social media platform are subject to Texas public information laws.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

ATCOG respects the rights of intellectual property owners and shall not intentionally infringe on those rights.  ATCOG use of protected intellectual property on ATCOG’s social media page shall comply with applicable laws and rules.

The terms of service of the respective social media accounts shall govern the posting or sharing of intellectual property on an official social media page by a member of the public.

If an intellectual property owner believes his/her rights have been infringed by the posting or sharing of intellectual property on an official social media page, he/she should contact ATCOG via telephone at 903-832-8636 or through the ATCOG website at https://atcog.org/contact/.

LINKS

ATCOG is neither responsible for the content nor endorses any platform that has a link to or from any official ATCOG social media platform. ATCOG may make available social media applications and may publish social media content to third-party platforms for informational purposes only.  This does not imply ATCOG’s endorsement, agreement or support of any platform content or sponsor.  These platforms are not official Texas government websites and therefore the external platforms’ policies apply.

ACCESSIBILITY

ATCOG must generally ensure that members of the public with disabilities have access to and the use of ATCOG electronic and information resources, including social media, in a comparable manner as persons without disabilities.