Social Media Terms of Service

Kalamazoo County engages with the public through many digital outlets. We do this to provide information of interest to County residents, the business community, visitors to our County, and other members of the public. We encourage you to engage with the County through these digital outlets, especially through official Kalamazoo County social media pages.  Please feel free to submit comments and questions regarding topics posted on official Kalamazoo County social media platforms. Please also feel free to share the information that the County posts on our digital outlets with your friends and family.

Official Kalamazoo County social media accounts may respond to submitted comments or questions during regular Kalamazoo County business hours only.

When engaging with the County through social media you agree to the following Kalamazoo County Social Media Customer Use Policy.

Kalamazoo County Social Media Customer Use Policy

When engaging with the County on social media you are subject to the Terms of Service (TOS) of the host site. The County encourages anyone interested in sending comments or questions to the County via social media to review host site TOS prior to engaging with the County on specific social media sites. Please make sure that you fully understand your rights before posting.

You participate at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, and any information provided. If you decide to comment or ask questions on social media, please keep in mind that the County uses social media to engage with all members of the public. Thus, the County will moderate discussions on social media to ensure that everyone who wants to comment feels welcome and is able to do so. The County reserves the right to remove content and comments that contain:

• Comments directly advocating violence or illegal activity.
• Comments containing direct criminal threats as defined by local, state, or federal law.
• Comments obtaining obscenity, which is defined as sexually explicit and/or pornographic content that is patently offensive, appeals to prurient interest, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
• Comments that directly promote or advocate that we illegally discriminate based on race, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other legally protected class if such comments violate local, state, or federal law.
• Comments containing links to malware and/or malicious content that affects the normal functioning of a computer system, server, or browser.
• Duplicate comments posted repeatedly within a short period of time.
• Comments containing actual defamation against a person, either as determined by a court or comments that are patently defamatory by easily discovered facts.
• Comments that contain images or other content that violate the intellectual property or copyright rights of someone else, if the owner of that property notifies us that the property was posted in a comment on our social media account(s).
• Comments that contain a hyperlink to any website other than those controlled by the County. This will be done without regard to the viewpoint of the comment containing such a link or the content of the site to which the link redirects.

When a comment containing any of the above content is posted to the County’s social media account(s), a copy or electronic record of that content may be retained or archived pursuant to our records retention policy, along with a brief description of the reason the specific content was deleted. Once documented, the content will be removed, where possible, from our social media accounts(s).
If County staff hides or deletes a user’s comment pursuant to these terms and conditions, that user has the right to appeal that decision by submitting an appeal here (link to web form) within five business days of the action.
Upon receipt of an appeal, the County’s attorney will determine whether the comment at issue contained content protected by the First Amendment. If the appeal is successful, the comment may (if possible) be restored for public view, or the user may be permitted to repost the comment. Upon a determination that the comment was not protected by the First Amendment, the user will be notified that the appeal was denied. The return correspondence, sent within a reasonable amount of time, will provide the user with a legal explanation for the action taken.
When the County determines that a user has violated these terms and conditions on three or more occasions within a 12-month rolling period, the authorized individuals may block or ban the offending user from the social media account where the violations occurred after receiving approval from Kalamazoo County Communications. If the County blocks or bans a user, the County will reasonably attempt to notify the user and describe the violation. If the appeal is successful and the user has not violated this policy three times within a rolling 12-month period, the County will unblock or unban the user from the social media account. If the appeal is not successful, the decision will stand.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

All content posted on official County social media pages is public record and is therefore subject to Michigan public records laws. These retention requirements apply regardless of the form of the record (e.g., digital text, photos, audio, and video). The Department maintaining a site shall preserve records pursuant to a relevant records retention schedule. Content removed from official County social media sites that is archived becomes public record as well. With limited exceptions, such content is therefore not exempt from FOIA requests. FOIA requests should be submitted through official Kalamazoo County request processes.

Disclaimer

• Content posted by the public on County social media pages will not replace statutory, administrative, or other requirements to provide County agencies with the required information. Failure to provide the County with required information in the required manner will not be deemed satisfaction of this requirement. Put another way, if a County agency or statute requires you to provide the County with information, posting it on social media will not satisfy this requirement. 
• Kalamazoo County social media posts may include content or hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public or private sources. When viewing content or a link outside of the kalcounty.com domain, users are subject to the security and privacy policies of the host website.
• Kalamazoo County is not responsible for, nor can it control content on, or the design of, third-party sites.
• The County does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with third-party comments, messages, posts, opinions, advertisements, videos, promoted content, external hyperlinks, linked websites (or the information, products, or services contained therein), statements, commercial products, processes, or services posted on any social media site.
• Comments and content posted by the public on County social media do not reflect the opinions or position of Kalamazoo County.
• Kalamazoo County is not responsible for the loss of sensitive personal identifying information that is voluntarily provided and posted by the public on County social media sites. It is your responsibility to protect your sensitive information by not posting such information on social media sites designed to be viewed by members of the public.  
• Social media accounts are not monitored 24/7. If there is an emergency, please contact 911.

Questions about the County’s Social Media Terms of Service and Customer Use Policy should be submitted here.