Social Media Policy

VILLAGE OF VILLA PARK

SOCIAL MEDIA SITE POLICY

 

Purpose

The Village of Villa Park recognizes that social media services (such as Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, and Nextdoor) provide a pathway for delivering information to residents, visitors, and community partners about activities, programs, news, goals and initiatives, and other information and materials intended to increase public awareness, social capital, and civic engagement. The purpose of the Village of Villa Park Social Media Site Policy is to outline the terms and use, prohibited content, and disclaimers as they apply to all Village social media accounts that serve as a communication tool between the Village and the public. Administrative and Information Technology personnel, and their designees, are the administrators of the Village’s social media accounts, including social media accounts of Village commissions and individual Village departments.   

Terms of Use

Social media sites administered by Village staff are limited public forums. The Village does not make its social media accounts available for general public discourse, but rather reserves and limits the topics that may be discussed on the social media accounts.  All posts and comments made by social media users (any individual or organization with a registered account(s) on Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or Nextdoor, etc.), are also subject to the following terms and conditions established by the Village of Villa Park:

  • Users who engage with social media accounts that are created and managed by the Village of Villa Park, must review and adhere to the terms of use of the social media host, and the social media policy established by the Village, prior to submitting a post or comment on any social media account maintained by the Village.
  • By posting or commenting on any Village social media account, a user is acknowledging acceptance of all applicable terms of use of the Village and the social media host.  
  • Users should be aware that the Village staff does not monitor activity on social media accounts 24 hours a day/7 days a week.   Consequently, Village social media accounts are not intended for conducting official business and cannot accommodate a user’s attempt to report concerns or make official inquiries. Users needing assistance with questions or concerns shall contact the proper Village office or department directly during normal business hours and not via social media.   These calls for action and inquiries may include but are not limited to reporting a crime, requesting emergency and non-emergency police and/or fire response, reporting public utility or infrastructure emergencies (downed power lines, power outages, road hazards, gas leaks, flooding, etc.) reporting code enforcement violations and requesting information pursuant to the Freedom of information Act (“FOIA”).
  • Posts made by Village staff may be generated in advance and scheduled for release on certain days/times, automatically.  New postings do not always indicate an administrator is active on the site.
  • In case of an Emergency or potentially dangerous situation, users should dial 911.
  • To report a crime or suspicious activity, users should dial 911 or call the non-emergency Village Police Department telephone number (630) 834-7447.
  • To report non-emergency concerns regarding code enforcement, new construction, street, sidewalk, or water-related issues, users should call the Village’s Community & Economic Development and Public Works main telephone number at (630) 433-4300
  • All postings and comments made on the Village of Villa Park social media sites are voluntary and made at the user’s own risk.
  • Comments posted by the public on Village social media sites do not reflect the opinion(s) of the Village.  The Village does not endorse or oppose, by its actions or inactions related to restriction, removal or deletion of submissions/postings, the comments/content submitted/posted by others.  Social Media users alone are responsible for their comments, usernames, and/or any information or content they place or attempt to place on Village sites.

Prohibited Content

The Administrative and Information Technology staff of the Village, and their designees, reserve the right to restrict, remove and delete content and/or block any person, group, or entity submitting and/or comment(s)/posting(s) that are contrary to or inconsistent with the purpose of the page, not topically related to particular postings authorized by the Village staff, violate applicable law, and/or violate the applicable terms and conditions of use of the Village and/or the social media host.

Only posts and/or comments consistent with the social media host’s terms of use and the terms of use established by the Village are welcome.  Any information, posts or comments containing the following content will be removed from the social media site:

  • Abusive, profane, threatening, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, hateful, harassing, or stalking, racist, sexist, homophobic, vulgar, obscene, violent, pornographic or sexual and/or criminal or unlawful language or content.
  • Content not typically related to a particular posting generated by Village staff.
  • Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, marital status, familial status, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, or other protected status under applicable law; 
  • Content that constitutes or includes solicitation of commerce, commercial activities, and fundraising or sponsorship, including but not limited to "stem” and other commercial content submitted/posted by individuals, groups, entities, or automatic software programs.
  • Comments that constitutes, conducts, solicits, promotes, encourages or incites criminal or illegal activity or comments that otherwise incite imminent lawless action.
  • Content that constitutes or includes an inappropriate and/or authorized disclosure of personal data or private/personal information about any individual, including but not limited to, address, phone number, social security number or other sensitive information.
  • Content that may tend to comprise the safety and security of the public or public systems;
  • Content that constitutes or includes copyrighted or trademarked material and/or content that violates the legal ownership interest of another party, submitted or posted without proper authorization or consent.

Disclaimer

The Village of Villa Park disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials or content that the Village staff deems inappropriate for posting.  The Village shall make efforts to remove said materials in an expeditious manner, but disclaims liability if circumstances exist that prevent or hinder efforts to remove said materials.

“Friending,” “liking,” and/or similar exchanges/actions between individual Village officers or employees and a social media site user does not indicate Village endorsement of that user’s actions or comments.

The Village reserves the right to amend its Social Media Site Policy and terms of use at any time.  If the Village determines that any social media outlet is ineffective or is not feasible to maintain, the Village reserves the right to close the site.