A municipality operating social media pages should have a written moderation policy adopted before it is needed.

Content of the policy. A statement of the page’s purpose; that comments are the commenters’ own; the categories subject to removal; the process; and how to appeal a removal.

Permissible removal categories. Obscenity, threats of violence, incitement, content that is unlawful, personal information about others, spam and commercial solicitation, and content unrelated to the page’s subject where the forum is limited to that subject.

Impermissible. Removal because the comment criticizes the municipality, its officials or its decisions. This is viewpoint discrimination and is the basis of nearly every successful claim.

Consistency. Selective enforcement of a neutral rule against critics is treated as viewpoint discrimination in substance.

Documentation. A log of removals recording the comment, the rule applied and who decided, retained. Without it, the municipality cannot demonstrate consistency.

Disabling comments entirely is generally permissible if done for all posts rather than in response to particular content.

Records. Comments are public records, so removal should preserve a copy.

Training for the staff who administer the pages, who are usually communications personnel rather than lawyers.