Social Media Policy

Public Records

City of Vancouver social media accounts are subject to State of Washington public records laws. Any content maintained in a social media format that is related to City business, including a list of subscribers and posted communication, is a public record. Make a public records request.

Comment Policy

Posts and comments made to City social media accounts containing any of the following forms of content shall not be allowed and may be hidden or removed at the sole discretion of the City:

  1. Comments not topically related to the particular social medium article being commented upon or links to any unrelated external website or social media site;
  2. Comments in support of or opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures;
  3. Profane language or content;
  4. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation;
  5. Threats to any person, group or organization;
  6. Sexual content or links to sexual content;
  7. Solicitations of commerce;
  8. Multiple copies of the same comment, or repetition of substantially similar comments;
  9. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
  10. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems, including content that may pose a security risk to City computer information systems; or
  11. Content that violates or appears to infringe upon a legal ownership interest of any other party.

The City reserves the right to hide or remove any content with or without notice to the author. The City also reserves the right to ban or block any user that repeatedly (more than once) violates the guidelines listed in item 10 above.