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Leesburg staff advises council on social media use and FOIA obligations
Summary
A town staff presentation on Jan. 14 reviewed Leesburg's social media presence, user statistics, department accounts, and legal obligations. Staff warned that posts and comments on government social media are public records subject to the Virginia FOIA and cited recent court rulings on government-run social media forums.
Town staff briefed the Leesburg Town Council on Jan. 14 about the town9s social media use, audience metrics, and legal constraints, telling council that content on official accounts and, in some circumstances, elected-official pages is public information subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Communications staff member Miss Cozen said the town maintains pages on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and that the Town of Leesburg Facebook page had "just over 22,000 followers" at the time of her presentation. She described common uses for town social media such as news releases, meeting notices, event promotion, road-closure alerts and emergency updates, and noted that some departments…
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