(A) No public official, as defined by the Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Ethics Act, shall operate a private social media account in such a manner that it would suggest or otherwise portray to the public that the account is operated by a public official, which includes, but is not limited to:
(1) Identifying themselves as a public official;
(2) Providing contact information or address for the municipal office, or official email address, or telephone number;
(3) Including a link to the municipal website;
(4) Directing posts toward constituents;
(5) Making posts on behalf of the municipality;
(6) Directing the public to use the account to give feedback on matters related to the official conduct of the municipality; and
(7) Re-posting things from the municipal website, municipal social media account or a public official’s government social media account.
(B) If a public official operates an official government social media account, the public official has established a public forum and, as a result, must take extreme precaution not to violate first amendment free speech rights. Therefore, the public official shall:
(1) Not delete any comment, block or delete someone from being a contact, “friend,” or from following the account, or otherwise silence any specific person from engaging the social media account;
(2) Provided, however, that the public official may:
(a) Turn all comments off, so long as this is done universally, and not on a case-by-case basis; and
(b) Delete harassing, threatening, lewd and obscene comments and posts, so long as the standard is clearly stated and applied universally, without regard to whether the comment was critical of or in opposition to the municipality or the public official.
(Res. 2020-2, passed 1-28-2020)