Social Media Policies

Many Peoria County offices have official social media accounts, and all fall under this general Peoria County policy unless otherwise stated. Peoria County endeavors to post this policy on all accounts where applicable. However, for social media platforms where it is difficult to post a full policy, Peoria County will link to this page, which serves as the posting.

Social Media Policy:

Our social media sites are not monitored 24/7. Please call or text 911 in an emergency. 

The intent of official Peoria County social media accounts is to serve as a communications tool between Peoria County departments and the public. Peoria County communications department staff and/or specific department personnel associated with the social media account are the sole administrators of our sites. This social media policy includes Terms of Use, Prohibited Content, and Disclaimers. 

Terms of Use 

As a communications tool, Peoria County shall utilize its various social media accounts to raise awareness among Peoria County and neighboring residents and visitors, community partners, and interested fans and followers of the County's offices. These sites may include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. Social media sites grant Peoria County an additional opportunity to share messages with the public. Peoria County's social media sites shall comply with all applicable County of Peoria policies and procedures, including section III‐13B Political Activity of the County of Peoria Personnel Policies.

Prohibited Content

The intended purpose of Peoria County's social media sites is to serve as one of multiple vehicles of communication between Peoria County and members of the public. Information, posts, tagged content, messages, photos, videos, graphics, and comments containing any of the following forms of content shall not be allowed and may be removed from the site:

1. 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
2. Off-topic content not pertinent to the post or topic at hand 
3. Profane language
4. Pornographic, sexually graphic, or sexually derogatory content, or links to this content
5. Violent content or links to violent content
6. Solicitations of commerce
7. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity 
8. Private and confidential information
9. Information that may compromise the safety and security of the public or public systems 
10. Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party 
11. Personal information including but not limited to e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, medical information, or identification numbers
12. Spamming, or otherwise flooding a discussion with excessive posts (5 or more)

Peoria County disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials or content posted that Peoria County deems in violation of this policy. Peoria County shall make reasonable efforts to remove said materials during business hours but disclaims liability if circumstances exist that prevent or hinder efforts to remove said materials, including if it the amount of discussion or becomes an undue burden to monitor or the timeliness of the comments are no longer relevant.  

Peoria County staff shall attempt to contact persons and notify them through the platform (commonly referred to as a “direct message”) that the content violated this stated policy. For platforms where direct messages cannot be sent to individuals, a publicly visible comment will be posted by an Administrator to alert social media users of a policy violation. Users who violate this policy three (3) times shall be banned or blocked from interacting on the social media page for 30 days. After 30 days, a social media administrator will unban or unblock the user from the social media page. Should the user again violate our policy on the same page, we will permanently ban or block them from that page. Peoria County reserves the right to report users for platform terms of use violations at any time.

Disclaimer

Peoria County does not endorse nor otherwise support or sponsor any advertising that may be posted by a social media platform on our pages. Social media platforms are privately operated, and the terms and conditions of individual platforms apply. Peoria County does not guarantee the reliability or accuracy of any third‐party links. Peoria County reserves the right to remove, at their discretion, any comment or conversation that is prohibited by this Social Media Policy or the terms of the platform.