Policy Regarding Moderation of Third Party Content

The City of Roanoke, Virginia (“city”), welcomes use of its various social media sites by the public to comment on matters involving the city, the public interest, and for educational and informational purposes. Please be advised that the city’s social media sites are routinely monitored by city staff, and questions, comments, and matters involving the public interest are encouraged to be submitted by users. The city will strive to respond to such comments and questions where appropriate, within a reasonable period of time.

Please note however, that the city’s social media sites are not a traditional public forum such as a park or public street, and only serve as a limited public forum. Accordingly, all comments and other content posted by users on the city’s social media sites are subject to monitoring and viewpoint neutral reasonable regulations. User-generated posts or comments could be rejected, removed, or hidden by city staff when the content includes, and is not limited to, the following:

• contains nudity, obscenity, or material that appeals to the prurient interest 
• contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information 
• contains offensive language that targets or discriminates on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or intellectual disability or sexual orientation or such other protected classes 
• is threatening, harassing, or is a personal attack
• incites or promotes violence or illegal activities 
• contains information that reasonably could compromise individual or public safety 
• promotes or endorses political campaigns or candidates 
• contains false information
• infringes on copyrights or trademarks

Repeated violation of this policy subjects the offending user to being banned from use of the city's social media sites. Adherence to this policy ensures a pleasant experience for all users of the city’s social media sites. All users of the city’s social media site are deemed to give their implied consent to this disclaimer by their use of such social media sites.

The views and comments expressed on the city’s social media sites do not reflect the opinions and position of the city or its officers and employees, and are not to be construed as an endorsement of the same, implied or otherwise, by the city, or its officers, and employees.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact the Citizen Engagement Officer at [email protected] or 540-853-6428.