City of Oakbrook Terrace Social Media Site Policy
Purpose
The City of Oakbrook Terrace recognizes that social media services (such as Facebook, Twitter Nextdoor, and Instagram) provide a pathway for delivering information to residents, visitors, and community partners about activities, programs, goals and initiatives, news, and other information and material intended to increase public awarenes
s, social capital, and civic engagement. The purpose of the City of Oakbrook Terrace Social Media Site Policy is to outline the terms and use, prohibited content, and disclaimers as they apply to all City social media accounts that serve as a communication tool between the City and the public. Administrative and Information Technology personnel, and their designees, are the administrators of the City's social media accounts, including the social media accounts of individual City Departments. The City does not make its social media accounts available for general public discourse, but rather reserves and limits the topics that may be discussed on the social media accounts. All posts and comments made by social media users (any individual or organization with a registered account(s) on Facebook, Twitter, Nextdoor and/or Instagram, etc.) are subject to the terms and conditions established by the social media host (Facebook, Twitter, Nextdoor and/or Instagram, etc.), and are also subject to the following terms and conditions established by the City of Oakbrook Terrace:
• Users who engage with social media accounts that are created and managed by the City of Oakbrook Terrace, must review and adhere to the terms of use of the social media host, and the social media policy established by the City, prior to submitting a post or comment on any social media account maintained by the City.
• By posting or commenting on any City social media account, a user is acknowledging acceptance of all applicable terms of use of the City and the social media host.
• Users should be aware that City staff does not monitor activity on social media accounts 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Consequently, City social media accounts are not intended for conducting official business and cannot accommodate a user's attempt to report concerns or make official inquiries. Users needing assistance with questions or concerns shall contact the proper City office or department directly during normal business hours and not via social media. These calls for action and inquiries may include but are not limited to: reporting a crime, requesting emergency and non-emergency police and/or fire response, reporting public utility or infrastructure emergencies (downed power lines, power outages, road hazards, gas leaks, flooding, etc.), reporting code enforcement violations, and requesting information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA").
• Posts made by City staff may be generated in advance and scheduled for release on certain days/times, automatically. New postings do not always indicate an administrator is active on the site.
• In case of an Emergency or potentially dangerous situation, users should dial 911.
• To report a crime or suspicious activity, users should dial 911 or call the non-emergency City Police Department telephone number (630)941-8320.
• To report a non-emergency concern regarding code enforcement, new construction, street, sidewalk, or water related issues, users should call the City's main number (630)941-8300.
• All postings and comments made on City of Oakbrook Terrace social media sites are voluntary, and made at the user's own risk.
• Comments posted by the public on City social media sites do not reflect the opinion(s) of the City. The City does not endorse or oppose, by its actions or inactions related to restriction, removal or deletion of submissions/postings, the comments/content submitted/posted by others. Social Media users alone are responsible for their comments, usernames, and/or any information or content they place or attempt to place on City sites. Prohibited Content
The Administrative and Information Technology staff of the City, and their designees, reserve the right to restrict, remove and delete content and/or block any person, group, or entity submitting and/or repeatedly submitting comment(s)/posting(s) that are contrary to or inconsistent with the purpose of the page, not topically related to particular postings authorized by the City staff, violate applicable law, and/or violate the applicable terms and conditions of use of the City and/or the social media host. Only posts and/or comments consistent with the social media host's terms of use and the terms of use established by the City are welcome. Any information, posts or comments containing the following content will be removed from the social media site:
• Abusive, profane, threatening, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, hateful, harassing or stalking, racist, sexist, homophobic, vulgar, obscene, violent, pornographic or sexual and/or criminal or unlawful language or content;
• Content not topically related to a particular posting generated by City staff.
• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, marital status, familial status, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, or other protected status under applicable law;
• Content that constitutes or includes solicitation of commerce, commercial activities and fundraising or sponsorship, including but not limited to "spam" and other commercial content submitted/posted by individuals, groups, entities, or automatic software programs;
• Comments that constitutes, conducts, solicits, promotes, encourages or incites criminal or illegal activity or comments that otherwise incite imminent lawless action;
• Content that constitutes or includes an inappropriate and/or unauthorized disclosure of personal data or private/personal information about any individual, including but not limited to address, phone number, social security number and other sensitive information;
• Content that may tend to compromise the safety and security of the public or public systems;
• Content that constitutes or includes copyrighted or trademarked material and/or content that violates the legal ownership interest of another party, submitted or posted without proper authorization or consent;
Disclaimer
The City of Oakbrook Terrace disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials or content that City staff deems inappropriate for posting. The City shall make efforts to remove said materials in an expeditious or otherwise timely manner, but disclaims liability if circumstances exist that prevent or hinder efforts to remove said materials. "Friending," "liking," and/or similar exchanges/actions between individual City officers or employees and a social media site user does not indicate City endorsement of that user's actions or comments. The City reserves the right to amend its Social Media Site Policy and terms of use at any time. If the City determines that any social media outlet is ineffective or is not feasible to maintain, the City reserves the right to close the site.
