By Don Reeder

Accountability and accessibility are two core values residents expect their city governments to honor. Among other ways, cities can demonstrate those values through city-managed, interactive social media accounts such as Facebook and X. These accounts are typically used to post outward-facing communications, often with opportunities for users to respond with comments.

For cities, social media sites can be valuable tools for reaching residents with news, announcements, and other useful information. In turn, interactive sites provide residents with a convenient, and accessible forum for commenting on city posts, expressing opinions, and promoting dialogue among all users. Allowing comments and interactions often increases site traffic while also boosting the visibility of city messaging. Cities also benefit by gaining a tool for gauging public reaction.

But sometimes commenters misuse these sites to spread rumors, defame individuals or groups, or generally abuse the comment function. Commenters may also post dialogue that casts cities in an unfavorable light. To prevent that, is it ever acceptable to delete individual comments, or turn off the comment function altogether?

Turning off comments

The answer is a definitive “it depends.”

According to Amber Eisenschenk, research manager with the League of Minnesota Cities, “From a First Amendment perspective, it’s OK to have no comments or to turn comments off at a certain point. It’s not usually OK to delete comments though. There are few exceptions.”

Generally, cities may turn off the comments function entirely, allowing no responses to city posts. Such a policy is considered content-neutral because it does not treat individuals differently based on the content of their speech. In other words, no one is allowed to comment.

However, the policy must be administered consistently and fairly, with no exceptions for any individual or group. Cities should be cautious, because inconsistency applying the policy could lead to claims that the city suppressed commenters’ First Amendment rights. Legal analysts generally support this interpretation.

In June 2024, the Minnesota Star Tribune published a story about the City of Rochester’s then-recent policy of shutting down social media comment functions. According to the newspaper, “Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said the city is within its rights to discontinue public comments on its social media channels. Kirtley noted that while local governments cannot block comments based on one viewpoint or another, they are under no obligation to manage a public forum on social media.”

Deleting comments is more complicated

Deleting specific comments is more difficult to justify and administer.

A League of Minnesota Cities information memo notes, “In traditional public forums, cities cannot regulate speakers based on their message. Cities can, however, adopt content-neutral regulations that restrict time, place, and manner (when, where, or how people can express themselves publicly), while not interfering with the content of the speech.”

To comply with that standard, cities should craft and publish a written comment policy that can be easily found by site users. The policy should clearly outline the limited circumstances under which a specific comment may be removed.

While a written policy might not completely prevent inappropriate or off-topic comments, it provides cities with a clear basis for action when a violation occurs.

What a comment policy might include

The following passage from the League’s model social media policy offers guidance on regulating city social media sites.

City of [insert city name here]’s social media managers will not edit posted comments. However, comments posted by members of the public may be removed if they fall into at least one of the following categories:

• Obscene or pornographic content.
• Direct threats to persons or property.
• Material asserted to violate the intellectual property of another person.
• Private, personal information about a person published without his/her consent.
• Information that compromises a public safety or security system.
• Statutorily private, confidential, or nonpublic data. Commercial promotions or spam.
• Hyperlinks to material that falls into one of the foregoing categories.

Download the model social media policy at lmc.org/social-media-policy.

Use caution and seek guidance

Though there is little precedent in case law directly addressing when cities may shut off or delete social media comments, related guidance can be found in cases involving free speech and other First Amendment issues.

Cities should be cautious whenever they delete comments on social media. If your city is considering deleting existing comments, first consult your city attorney or seek guidance from the League of Minnesota Cities.

Don Reeder is public affairs coordinator with the League of Minnesota Cities. Contact: [email protected] or (651) 215-4031.