Social Media Customer Use Policy

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The City of American Canyon (“City”) engages customers through many digital outlets, including the City’s Official Website (at www.americancanyon.gov) and various social media websites. Communicating with the City through social media further enables customers to contact the City in a direct and meaningful way. This Social Media Customer Use Policy (“Customer Use Policy”) provides a summary of the guidelines pertaining to the public’s use of the City’s social media sites.

For the purposes of this Customer Use Policy, “social media” is understood to be content created by individuals, using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies, through and on the Internet. Examples of social media include, but are not limited to, social networking sites, forums, weblogs (blogs, vlogs, microblogs), online chat sites, and video/photo posting sites or any other such similar output or format (including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube).

The City has an overriding interest and expectation in protecting the integrity of the information posted on its social media sites, in the name of and on behalf of the City, and the content that is attributed to the City and its officials.

City social media sites are subject to the California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250, et seq.) and associated laws. Any content maintained on a City social media site that is related to City business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be considered a public record and subject to public disclosure as required by law.

Commenting on a City of American Canyon Social Media Site

By posting or commenting on the City of American Canyon’s social media sites, you are agreeing to the terms of use of this Customer Use Policy. The City of American Canyon shares information, images, photographs and video with the public through external social media websites. Comments made by the public to these sites are reviewed and, while comments will not be edited by City personnel, a comment may be deleted if it violates this Customer Use Policy.

Comments should be related to the posted topic for the City's social media page or post. City of American Canyon social media accounts are not meant for comments that do not directly relate to the purpose or topic of the social media website or for service requests. For general comments or communications concerning the City or a City department use the Customer Feedback Form. For service requests, please use SeeClickFix.

Comments may contain links to external sites that are government sites, City-related sites, sites with specific ties to the City or sites that provide public information that helps the City fulfill its mission.

Contacting the City’s Police or Fire Departments in the event of an emergency should not be done through American Canyon social media sites. In the event of an emergency, please call 911 and ask for assistance. While comments posted on City social media sites are monitored, posting a comment is neither recommended nor the best way to contact the City’s Police and Fire Departments.

You are subject to the Terms of Service (TOS) of the individual social media websites. Information (photos, videos, etc.) you share with or post to official City of American Canyon pages are also subject to the TOS of the site and may be used by the owners of the site for their own purposes. For more information, consult the individual social media website's TOS.

The City shall have full permission or rights to any content posted to its social media sites, including photographs and videos.

Individuals posting photos warrant they have taken the photograph and have obtained any necessary permission from any third party if that third party or third party’s intellectual property appears in the photograph. Photos remain your individual property, but by posting a photo, you agree to allow the City to display and use your photo on the City’s social media sites and grant the City a perpetual, worldwide non-exclusive license to reproduce, distribute, display and create derivative works of your photo in connection with the City of American Canyon and promotion for the City of American Canyon. By posting a photo, you release and hold the City harmless from any and all liability arising from or related to the posting of your photo(s).

Postings or comments to City social media sites shall NOT contain any of the following:

  • Comments not topically related to the particular subject or article being commented upon;
  • Comments in support of, or opposition to, political campaigns, candidates or ballot measures (this does not apply to educational information or materials provided by the City about City ballot measures or related Comments in response to it);
  • Profane language or content;
  • Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation/gender identification, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws;
  • Sexual content (including nudity) or links to sexual content;
  • Solicitations of commerce, including, but not limited to, advertising of any business or product for sale, commercial promotions and spam;
  • Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law, or encouragement of illegal activity;
  • Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
  • Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party;
  • Potentially libelous comments;
  • Personal attacks, insults, or threatening language;
  • Private or personal information published without consent;
  • Reproduced or borrowed content that reasonably appears to violate third party rights;
  • Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion.

Comments posted by a member of the public on any City social media site are the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City of American Canyon, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of American Canyon.

The City reserves the right to deny access to City social media sites for any individual, who violates this Policy, at any time and without prior notice. 

The City reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that it deems, in its sole discretion, to be in violation of this Customer Use Policy, the Administrative Policy, or any other applicable law (including, but not limited to copyright and/or trademark law), to be the intellectual property of any third party, or to pose a threat to the City’s technology system or its security.

This comment policy is subject to amendment or modification at any time.

Questions or concerns regarding the City of American Canyon's social media activity may be directed to communications@americancanyon.gov.

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