Social Media Use Policy

Any individual accessing, browsing and using a City of Mercer Island social media site accepts without limitation or qualification, this social media policy.

This policy refers to the official social media pages operated and managed by, or accounts held by, the City of Mercer Island. These pages and accounts were created to provide updated information to the community and are monitored by the Communications Manager, as well as other staff.

The City welcomes and encourages public dialogue on sites that allow posts, but reminds users that these are limited public forums and all comments are subject to public disclosure laws.  The City assumes no liability for any inaccuracies its social media sites may contain. The City also has no control over third-party content, commercial advertisements or other postings that may appear to the user as part of their social media site environment.

Following or Liking between the City of Mercer Island and another user or account does not indicate endorsement of that person’s actions or comments.

Comments posted by others (if allowed) on any City of Mercer Island social media site or account are not to be considered the opinion of the City; nor does the City endorse any third-party user comments.

The City of Mercer Island welcomes a person’s right to express their opinion and encourages posters to keep comments on-topic and family-friendly. The City reserves the right to deactivate the comment feature on City-affiliated social media sites, where applicable, at any time without prior notice. The City also reserves the right to remove comments and posts that do not follow its posting guidelines, and to ban users who refuse to comply.

The following are prohibited on City of Mercer Island social media sites: 

• Comments that clearly violate a social media site’s Terms of Service
• Comments not topically related to City programs, services, projects, issues, events and activities, or the particular post being commented upon
• Solicitations of commerce; advertisements, commercial promotions or spam
• Political statements, including comments that endorse or oppose political candidates or ballot propositions, are prohibited under state law (RCW 42.52.180)
• Religious statements, including comments that endorse or oppose any type of religious opinions or activities
• Posts and comments that promote, foster or perpetuate discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, transgender status, or sexual orientation
• Posts and comments that include vulgar, offensive, threatening or harassing language, personal attacks, libelous or unsupported accusations
• Private, personal information published without consent
• Obscene or sexual content, and links to obscene or sexual content
• Comments inciting violence or hate speech
• Profane language or content
• Illegal activity or encouragement of illegal activity
• Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
• Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party

Communications made through social media sites in no way constitute a legal or official notice or comment to the City or any official or employee of the City for any purpose.

[Please note that NextDoor.com is a private neighborhood forum that operates differently than other social media sites. The City does not have its own page on NextDoor, but instead maintains an Agency Account that can only see and interact with City posts and responses to City posts. City staff cannot see any posts or comments not originating from the City.] The City's administrative policy is to "close discussion" on NextDoor posts after approximately 24 hours or when comments and questions have been resolved.

Questions about this policy or the City’s social media outlets may be directed to the City's Communications Manager.

City of Mercer Island
Updated August 2023