Social media, web and mobile platform comment policy

The City of Vancouver (“City”) invites the community to engage with us regarding City services, programs and activities in a variety of formats, including online through social media platforms, online platforms and mobile applications. This policy refers to these online formats as “Platforms.” The Platforms the City uses to engage with the public are limited public forums that City staff manage. City staff may moderate public comments as provided in this policy.

This policy governs the following Platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor, LinkedIn, Threads, Be Heard Vancouver and the My Vancouver mobile application.

Public comments

The City may hide the visibility of and archive the following comments members of the public make on the Platforms:

• Comments that are unrelated to the topic of the post, including commercial solicitations and links to unrelated content
• Obscene content and links to obscene content, including sexual content
• Obscene language
• Comments that may, if false, defame a person or impersonate a person
• Comments or links to content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information
• Comments that may compromise public safety, including threats
• Comments that may create a security or platform risk, such as those that include phishing links or that disrupt platform operation 
• Comments that may violate the intellectual property rights of any person or entity
• In accordance with 42.17A.555 RCW, comments made for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition.

In addition to the City’s limitations on public comments, the Platforms include platform-specific terms of use that govern users’ use of those specific platforms. Specific platforms may make decisions regarding users on its platforms in alignment with those platforms’ terms of use that are outside the City’s control. Facebook and Instagram offer a profanity filter, which limits profanity in comments and messages. The City uses that filter on those platforms.

Policy violations

Comments and direct messages that violate this policy will be hidden and reported as spam or explicit content, as applicable, using each Platform’s standard reporting protocols. The City will directly message the commenter to provide notice that their comment has been hidden. Community members who violate the City’s commenting policy more than three times will be temporarily banned for 30 days from commenting on the applicable City Platform.

Public records

Platform comments are public records subject to retention and disclosure requirements under the Washington Public Records Act 42.56 RCW. The City may be required to disclose comments it has hidden from public view and archived in response to a public records request. Any member of the public may make a public records request at any time.

Third-party websites

The City may post links to third-party websites. The City does not endorse any content posted on any third-party website or endorse any entity or person it may engage with on the Platforms. The City is not responsible for any content posted on a third-party website, all third-party content is the responsibility of the third-party website and is subject to the third-party website’s terms and conditions.

For questions about this policy, please contact the City Communications Office:

Laura Shepard, Communications Director
laura.shepard@cityofvancouver.us
360-487-8614

Tim Becker, Strategic Communications Manager
tim.becker@cityofvancouver.us
360-831-3240