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Council weighs adopting official Mabton Facebook page; attorney warns about moderation limits
Summary
A proposed resolution to establish an official Mabton Facebook page drew a legal briefing that pages are limited public forums; the city may disable comments but moderation must be viewpoint‑neutral. Staff recommended clear content guidelines and careful moderation if comments are enabled.
Council discussed Resolution 2026-14, which would create an official City of Mabton Facebook page and adopt policies for its management and use. The presiding official said an informational page could be useful for school and community notices and suggested keeping comments turned off for that reason.
Legal counsel advised the council that a municipal social media page is treated as a limited public forum under the law and that the city may disable comments, but if comments are allowed moderation must be viewpoint‑neutral. As counsel explained: "a Facebook page qualifies under the law as something that's called a limited public forum... If you do allow comments, the one thing... is how does it regulate the and moderate the page? You are not allowed to moderate or delete comments based off of viewpoint." The attorney recommended staff prepare clear content and moderation procedures if the council wishes to enable commenting.
