Social Media Terms of Use Policy

The City of Jacksonville believes that open and honest communication between the City and residents is an important aspect of a strong and healthy community. The official social media pages of the City are just one of the numerous ways residents can receive information about what is going on within Jacksonville. Not every issue facing the City will be addressed on social media. The primary goals with the City’s social media pages are to:

Reach new audiences with important City news and information

Increase communication and transparency between the City of Jacksonville and residents

Provide an opportunity for input and discussion from residents and profile visitors

With the use of social media, the City of Jacksonville intends to effectively promote information and communicate with the community while maintaining a respectful dialogue between all parties. The City of Jacksonville wants to hear what you have to say, and guidelines regarding moderating and commenting will continue to maintain a productive and open platform for community discussion. The City’s social media administrators uphold these guidelines to ensure that comments and feedback are constructive and productive, whilst respecting all points of view and opinions.

Opinions expressed by visitors to City social media pages do not reflect the opinions of the City of Jacksonville and/or City departments.

Individuals who post or comment are legally responsible for their posts and/or comments. Posts and/or comments must not violate any law, confidentiality or copyright. While comments and/or posts will not be removed based on viewpoint or opinion, the City’s social media moderators reserve the right to remove comments and/or replies that contain any of the following:

Profanity and vulgar or abusive language

Personal attacks or threats of any kind

Offensive comments that target or disparage any ethnic, racial or religious group

Sexual content or links to sexual content

Spam or links to other sites

Are off topic or not within the scope of the responsibilities of the City of Jacksonville and/or specific City departments

Include identifiable information, such as an address, phone number, Social Security number or other sensitive information

Contain threats of immediate breach of the peace

Are commercial endorsements of products, services, organizations or other entities

Serve electoral campaign purposes, including political endorsements of parties, candidates or groups

Promote imminent illegal activity or violence

Additionally, the City of Jacksonville reserves the right to require those who comment on City pages to adhere to the Terms of Use.

Comments on the City of Jacksonville’s official social media pages are not deemed to be official public testimony concerning any project or program for which the City is required to hold a public hearing. Expressing an opinion on a City’s official social media page is primarily for discussion and is not a substitute for a formal statement in a public hearing process.

The City of Jacksonville reserves the right to update the Terms of Use.