Social Media Policy

The purpose of the city of Clearwater government’s official social media platforms is to provide information on topics we believe are of interest to the city’s residents, business community, visitors and other members of the general public.  

The city of Clearwater recognizes and appreciates the rights of all members of our online community to free speech and freedom of expression. Comments should be related to the posted topic for the social media page or post. The social media accounts are not meant for comments that do not directly relate to the purpose or topic of the social media website or for service requests. As such, comments or posts violating this Social Media Policy will not be displayed. 

The City of Clearwater Government Social Media Comments Policy prohibits: 

• Defamation to a person or people; 

• Name calling and/or personal attacks of any kind or offensive comments that advocate unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability; 

• Hate speech; 

• Abusive, vulgar, threatening or harassing comments; 

• Profanity, obscenity or vulgarity; 

• Nudity in profile pictures; 

• Profane language or content; 

• Sexual harassment content; 

• Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination against protected classes; 

• Content that is off topic and/or disruptive; and 

• Content that advocates illegal activity, and/or violates any city of Clearwater policies 

• Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity, statements that endanger public health, safety and security or statements that encourage, provide advice for or solicit the commission of a criminal act;

• Solicitations of commerce or advertisements including promotion or endorsement; 

• Promotions of particular services, products or political candidates or organizations; 

• Comments that infringe on copyrights; 

• Content that violates legal ownership interest of any other party, such as copyright or trademark infringement; 

• Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; 

• Spam comments, such as the same comment posted repeatedly; 

• Spam, including content that promotes products or services or contains gratuitous links; 

• Spam or comments that include links to external online sites; and 

• Commercial endorsements. 

Users are subject to the host site's Terms of Use. Any user in violation of the Terms of Use will be reported. For more information, consult the host website's Terms of Use directly – Facebook, X, Instagram. This Social Media Policy is subject to amendment or modification at any time. Social media sites are a public forum, any content posted is subject to public records retention and disclosure pursuant to Florida law. Opinions expressed by visitors to this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of city of Clearwater government.