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Commission debate focuses on scope and First Amendment risk in proposed county social media policy
Summary
County attorney told commissioners the proposed social media terms-of-use is intended to set uniform standards and is "constitutionally valid," but several commissioners raised concerns about vague language allowing removal or 'discontinuing access' and whether that could lead to improper blocking of members of the public; staff agreed to clarify wording.
Montgomery County's proposed uniform social media consumer terms of use drew sustained discussion on Feb. 2 as commissioners pressed legal staff to clarify how the county could remove content or block users without infringing constitutional rights.
Commissioner Shelton said the draft language was too broad and could allow removal or permanent blocking of users for opinions the county 'may disagree with.' County Attorney Tim Harvey responded that the policy does not authorize arbitrary removal; rather, the document identifies categories of content that may be removed from official county social media — examples he read included threats, defamatory comments,…
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