Spring Fire Department Social Media Management Guideline PDF

Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024...

Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024 Approved by: ADMIN Review Date 1 July. 2025 GUIDELINE Reviewed by Strategic Services Scott C. Seifert Social Media Management Social Media Management 1. Executive Summary a. Spring Fire Department commits to managing its social media platforms responsibly, in alignment with the guidelines and applicable law. b. Procedures and Responsibilities: The document encourages community engagement on social media, with comments being relevant, lawful, and respectful. c. Prohibited Content: It details categories of speech and content that are not protected and may be removed from Spring Fire's social media channels. d. Prohibited Social Media: Certain social media services, like TikTok, are prohibited on department devices by executive order. SFD.079 Uncontrolled if printed Page 1 of 5  Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024 Approved by: ADMIN Review Date 1 July. 2025 GUIDELINE Reviewed by Strategic Services Scott C. Seifert Social Media Management 2. Purpose a. Spring Fire’s social media channels exist to provide an information and education platform connecting our community and their fire department. The purpose of this guideline is to create a safe and effective environment for social media interactions. 3. Policy Statement a. Spring Fire Department will responsibly manage its social media platforms in alignment with this guideline and applicable law. 4. Scope a. This guideline applies to all members and social media activity at Spring Fire Department. 5. Definitions a. See Glossary. 6. Procedures and Responsibilities a. The Spring Fire Department welcomes and encourages community engagement on our social media channels. i. Social media comments should be relevant to the specific post, follow applicable state and federal laws and be respectful of others. ii. Spring Fire takes First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protections of your rights to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition seriously. The constitution does not protect certain categories of speech, including child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, fighting words, obscenity, and true threats. Other federal and state laws also protect certain personal information and copyrighted materials from being released by anyone other than the person who owns that information. b. Spring Fire reserves the right to remove any comment on any Spring Fire social media channel for any of the following reasons: SFD.079 Uncontrolled if printed Page 2 of 5  Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024 Approved by: ADMIN Review Date 1 July. 2025 GUIDELINE Reviewed by Strategic Services Scott C. Seifert Social Media Management i. The comment violates someone’s legal rights by: 1. Inclusion of personal information protected under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA), the U.S. Privacy Act, HIPAA, COPPA and other applicable laws. 2. Inclusion of copyrighted material owned by another. 3. Inclusion of threats of serious bodily injury or deadly conduct in violation of any Texas and/or federal law. 4. Inclusion of unapproved sales solicitations. 5. Inclusion of spam, false or misinformation, links to violent or sexually explicit websites, malware in violation of community standards and/or social media platform standards or rules. 6. Inclusion of abusive, defamatory, harassing or slanderous language on any individual or entity regardless of whether that individual is also commenting. 7. Inclusion of hate, racism, obscenities or vulgarities in violation of community standards, platform standards or applicable law. 8. A comment that could place the Spring Fire Department, its members or any commissioner in harm’s way or makes personal attacks. 9. Comments that are off topic. 10. Each social media platform has their own standards and rules that may apply in addition to these guidelines. c. Personal viewpoints of the commenter or social media manager will not be considered in a decision to remove a comment from any Spring Fire social media channel. d. Removed comments containing threats or incitements to violence will be turned over to law enforcement. e. Spam accounts posting malware and false information links will be blocked for the safety of other social media users. f. Prohibited Social Media i. The social media service TikTok or any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited; by executive order of the governor is prohibited on all department devices to include but not limited to: phones, laptops, desktops and iPads. SFD.079 Uncontrolled if printed Page 3 of 5  Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024 Approved by: ADMIN Review Date 1 July. 2025 GUIDELINE Reviewed by Strategic Services Scott C. Seifert Social Media Management 7. References & Related Policies a. This section provides references to applicable laws, standards, or other related internal policies or guidelines. NFPA Applicable State or Federal Statutes OSHA Spring FD TCFP CPSE PI ISO TFCA Texas Model Security Plan Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) *Effective July 1, 2024 Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 USC §552a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 42 USC §1 320d-6 (HIPAA) Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule 15 U.S.C. §91 (COPPA) U.S. Constitution Amendment I Facebook Community Standards Other: Instagram Community Guidelines Neighbors By Ring Community Guidelines Nextdoor Community Guidelines Pinterest Community Guidelines X Community Standards YouTube Community Guidelines 8. Contact Office a. The appropriate contact office for questions or comments on this SOG is: i. Company Officer 1. District Chief a. Deputy Chief of Strategic Services i. Assistant Chief 1. Fire Chief 9. List of Changes SFD.079 Uncontrolled if printed Page 4 of 5  Spring Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 Standard Operating Guideline SFD.079 Revision No. 01 Issue Date 17 July. 2024 Effective Date 17 July. 2024 Approved by: ADMIN Review Date 1 July. 2025 GUIDELINE Reviewed by Strategic Services Scott C. Seifert Social Media Management Revision Approved Effective Description of Changes No. by Date 10. Errors See something wrong? Click here or use this QR code to submit an error or inconsistency. This policy is for internal use only and does not enlarge a member’s legal duty or civil liability in any way. This policy should not be construed as creating a duty to act or a higher duty of care, with respect to third-party civil claims against members or the department. A violation of this policy, if proven, can only form the basis of a complaint by this department for non-judicial administrative action in accordance with the laws governing member discipline. 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