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Tompkins County updates social-media policy after legal review
Summary
The Legislature unanimously adopted an updated departmental social-media policy after County Attorney Maury Josephson advised narrowing language to avoid infringing protected speech; changes include replacing open-ended phrasing with 'reasonably likely to' standards for incitement and demonstrably false statements that could harm the public.
The Tompkins County Legislature unanimously approved an updated departmental social-media policy after a legal review and targeted edits. County Attorney Maury Josephson recommended revising draft language to avoid overbroad terms that could suppress protected speech and suggested amending phrases like "could incite" and "intended to mislead" to standards grounded in likelihood and demonstrable falsity.
Josephson told the body that the Brandenburg v. Ohio standard for incitement requires assessing whether speech is "reasonably likely to incite unlawful activity or violence" rather than using a broad "could" formulation; he recommended similar "reasonably likely to" language for demonstrably false information that would mislead or harm the public. Legislators accepted friendly amendments reflecting that advice. The updated policy also permits moderators to post clarifications and, in limited cases, to turn off comments on posts likely to draw mass misinformation. Members requested follow-up work on platform selection, promotion-spending rules, and more frequent review cycles due to rapidly evolving technology.
